Carpe Tenebras
by Tomelena
Summary: In an AU world ruled by a mysterious , dark brotherhood, Lois begins a dangerous ride full of secrets, violence , sex and ... blood.
1. Prologue

**Author: **Helena

**Title: **Carpe Tenebras

**Rating: **NC-17

**Genre: **Mystery/Romance

**Characters/Pairings:** Clois, Clexana, Jimmy, Chloe, Oliver and others

**Disclaimer: **I own nothing but the idea of this story

**Summary: **In an AU world ruled by a mysterious , dark brotherhood, Lois begins a dangerous ride full of secrets, violence , sex and ... blood.

**A/N: **English translation of the latin title is "Seize the Darkness". This story is completely AU. Feeback is always welcome.

* * *

**Carpe Tenebras**

**Prologue**

_"Do not ask which creature screams in the night, Do not_

_question who waits for you in the shadow. It is my cry that wakes you in the_

_night, And my body that crouches in the shadow. I am Tzeench and you are the_

_puppet That dances to my tune."_

_~Karanzantor the Vile, The Traitor of Xian_

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_

In the dream, he was again someone else.

He was walking in the daylight, under the sun's meridian halo, without a single scorch carving his skin. He was very powerful, with a newborn strength emanating from the depths of his core. He also knew that , if he wanted , he could fly far above the seas, far above the clouds, and become one with the immense sky blue of the horizon. He was invincible. And most important, he was smiling.

Everyone knew him and everyone admired him. In the dream, he was also loved. He didn't know by whom or how, but the feeling of love surrounding him, was unmistakable.

Everything else in his dream was fuzzy, but still blindingly bright nonetheless. Each time a new detail would reveal itself. But the conclusion would always be the same. He found himself, once again, in front of an opening. It seemed like a dark cave, but he couldn't completely fathom what or where it was. Lifting those eyes that weren't his own, he noticed again the same illegible inscription on the raw stone. The graven letters were an odd blur, but he was being flooded with the certainty that he would be able to distinguish them at any given minute.

And then, as the moment of truth was coming closer and closer for him to grab its meaning, the first drop of blood fell on his forehead. Raising his gaze up, he came across with the most ebony sky , as a torrent of crimson drops started pouring down on him, effectively shading his vision. Right then, he screamed. There was not a single sound coming out of his open mouth, but he knew he was screaming. He could feel the power of his cry storming out of his lungs, as the blood was covering him, entering his system through his every pore. Only this time, the blood wasn't gracing him with life; it was poisoning him.

In the dream, he was always someone else.

He woke up soaked in sweat, with his pulse erratic and his soul scrambled up his throat. It was saved again, never managing to flutter away from him. His sensitive ears didn't delay in tuning to the faint sound coming from his scattered undergarments, somewhere around the marble floor. Like a serpent that would never stir the settled silence , he slipped away from the king-sized bed , leaving the two naked bodies at his sides, one male, one female, still dived into deep slumber.

Glancing briefly sideways, he noticed that the heavy, metallic shutters were already down and locked, completely covering anything that could serve as a window. There was no doubt the morning sun was already reigning outside.

He found his beeper faintly buzzing under a torn, wine stained shirt and a pair of abused crimson stockings.A thin line furrowed the small valley between his dark brows as his gazed was fixed on the beeper's screen. The message was clear. And he should rush.


	2. Chapter 1

**1**

"_You can't run away from trouble. There ain't no place that far."_

_~James Baskett_

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_

The moment WhiteSnake started wondering if it was love what they were feeling, she turned off the radio. Coehlo obviously didn't have her in mind when writing that, when you really desire something, all the universe conspires in helping you. Cause to her it seemed that all the forces of nature had specifically gathered to plan the opposite in her case. Even that damned radio had an awfully bad timing. At least she could fool herself that she rejected her favorite rock ballad, cause her car had just passed the gates of Metropolis' central cemetery.

The morning had risen gloomy and moody. Sun was still peeping out here and there from behind the cheerless clouds, but its light was still unable to banish the cold breeze that was gently scattering the gold, autumnal leaves. The Ford turned left, continuing up the second hill of the cemetery, and she mused that the place would make a great metropolitan park if it hadn't been for its rigid residents, when the disturbing ringtone of her cellphone rudely cut her chain of thoughts.

After blindly searching in her jacket's pockets, she found it and instantly opened it, mentally cursing herself the next second for always being enough impulsive to not check who's calling first.

"Please, tell me you haven't been driving all night and at least you got some sleep."

"Well, good morning to you too, Chloe." She rolled her eyes.

"You didn't have to leave from Star City like a fugitive, Lois. Whatever is so important in Metropolis, it could wait a few days."

"I'm fine, thanks for asking. What about you?"

"Lois! This is not funny." The blond's dead serious tone was colored with indignation.

"Well what do you want me to tell you, Chloe? I am done with that place , the chapter of my life from the Bold and the Beautiful is over, and Lois "little-old-me" Lane has other plans to pursue."

"Oh, right, and so you went back to chasing baddies and hoping you might crack a story that will get you a newsworthy article....You know, he has regretted everything."

"Here we go again, haven't you given me that lecture already?"

"My point is that you didn't have to suddenly give up everything because of Oliver, especially when he has asked for your forgiveness. You had a whole life here, Lois, a well paid job, a great house...you were stepping up the social ladder."

"Exactly! I was stepping up until Oliver decided to step on me, that little detail seems to slip your memory."

A sigh came from the other line.

"He seems honestly sorry for what happened, Lois. He barely slept all night after you decided to act on your threats , grab your car keys and run back to your old habits."

"Oh, please, hardly "threats". You both knew well i was determined to return to my ... wait a minute, what do you mean he 'barely slept all night'?"." She abruptly pulled the car over at a gentle slope , few meters away from the first graves. Her eyes narrowed. "He is still there , isn't he?"

"No, he isn't, he left about an hour ago. He did come earlier tonight, worried about you and your stubbornness."

Lois chewed on her lip, guilt starting to crawl into her consciousness. "Really?"

"Yes, really! Who would have thought you would act so impulsively and not give yourself a second chance, how did you expect him to feel? Happy? Despite your unresolved problems, he never wanted you to quit your life in Star City and run away, back to what you dropped a year ago! He looked like a wreck..."

"Well suits him right!...He should have thought of what i had given up for him earlier, when he was marking me as the last wheel in his priorities. And now cuz, really, if you are done busting my chops, i have to go, i can't possibly sit in the middle of the cemetery and listen to the same old once more, i have stuff to do, an old flat to undust and.."

"Cemetery? Jeez, Lois, what are you gonna investigate this time, dead bodies? Where are you getting yourself into?"

"Nowhere i don't fit!" she angrily protested and the next second regretted it, adopting a softer tone. " Relax, Chloe, this case is just a really good chance for a strong comeback, and probably the only one i have right now. I 'll be fine...i always am."

A pause.

"You better be...otherwise , i will come down there myself and drag your rebel butt back here. Oh, and did i mention i will do that after i will have forced you to watch every sappy movie I have in my dvd collection?"

Lois's lips curled to a sad smile. Chloe's worried voice had always a way to sneak past her guards , and emotionally move her.

"I love you too, Chloe." she answered back with honesty.

"Just , please, be careful, ok? I will call you later in the afternoon... Take care."

Lois hanged up the phone and gazed up at the young face, tiredly saluting her from the rear-view mirror. The dark circles under her eyes were betraying a long, nocturnal ride , painfully crammed with worries and doubts. "At least you came to the perfect place to look like a zombie" she scowled at herself, before putting on her shades and exiting the Ford.

Welcoming the bleak atmosphere of the cemetery with a shiver, she started walking through the gravestones, as the cold air was gently smacking her cheeks. Down the grass-covered slope, the police was already securing the area around an angel tombstone and a few other, less impressive, graves. The buzz around the gruesome finding in that place, hadn't risen much yet; the people gathered were mainly the ones working in the cemetery, along with the hurried MDP officers and their dead silent police cars, parked in the nearby cement path roads. A faint smile of satisfaction cracked on Lois' face, as she inwardly congratulated her spot-on source. When she had accepted the position of a Daily Planet correspondent in Star City, leaving behind her any great ambitions for an ace reporter's career in Metropolis, just to follow the one who had shined back then as the big love of her life, she had never imagined that she would find herself back to the front line, only one year after. Thus, she was thankful she could still pull some strings when necessary, and completely rely on her past connections , to the point of even being tipped of about a case, before any fellow newshound could wake from his lethargy.

Slowly approaching the small flock, Lois easily distinguished the macabre sight of a female body, angled next to the angel tombstone, lying completely naked within a pool of blood. The grass around was soaked scarlet, and even the statue itself bore the crimson evidence of a wild slaughter. Daring a few more steps, she could see that the woman's throat was slit open , but she had to get even closer in order to try capturing the heinous crime with her pocket camera. Much to her dismay, her advance didn't go unnoticed.

"This is a crime scene, ma'am. I am afraid i have to ask you to move away."

Lois looked up at the young officer who had suddenly sprouted in front of her, effectively blocking her way. She might have hadn't become yet the famous reporter she was longing to, but in the past, she had crossed roads with MPD many times, and the fact that uniformed newbie wasn't recognizing her, could definitely work to her benefit.

"Oh, i am so sorry officer..." she faked an awkward smile .. "I was just about to pay a visit to my relative's grave , i never thought i would come across this. How terrible..."

"Your relative?" the man frowned.

"Yeah.." she quickly glanced over the officer's shoulder, her gaze falling to the first gravestone she found near the body. "Uhm...Jacob...Jacob Cohen. That's his grave over there, next to the angel statue."

"Oh, you mean the grave with that weird quote under the name", the police man turned his attention to the Latin phrase on the tombstone for a moment, before smiling goofily back at her, and Lois cursed her luck for picking the oddest grave in the area. _'VERITATEM QUA..QUAERE ET..ET..' _she attempted to mentally pronounce it, but she failed midway, and all she could hope for was that he, at least, wouldn't ask her what it meant. Fortunately, the police officer had other plans.

"I am afraid that you won't be able to visit your relative today, ma'am. I am sorry you had to find yourself in the middle of this mess." he said with honesty and a somewhat naivety.

"I understand, officer." Lois nodded. "Such a horrible incident...so much blood, and is the victim's throat cut? So horrible.."

"Indeed ma'am. Although..." he leaned closer, lowering his voice .. " it's not just the throat that is cut. I've never seen something like this before, we are talking about a hideous slaughter here."

Lois struggled to hide the beam in her eyes. If all police officers were like this one, not only would she get the info she searched for every time, but she would even have an exclusive, live interview with the killers, during their very own capture! The wheels in her mind started rolling rapidly, seeking for a way to convince him to even let her take a few photos.

"Didn't I specifically tell you to not allow anyone come closer?" a hoarse voice put an end to any mischievous ideas hopping in Lois' head. Turning around to confront the man that was currently scolding the younger officer, she met a familiar face. At her sight, the Sergeant halted his step and rolled his eyes.

"Great...not only you allow people to get closer, you even allow the Press!...I am really amazed by you, people" he suddenly addressed to Lois, without bothering to hide his irritation " .. sometimes i swear , i expect you to reach the crime scene before even the criminal himself!"

"I am glad to see that some people never change, Malone." Lois grinned sarcastically, leaving the young officer staring at them dumbfounded.

"Listen, Lane. This is a restricted area, and you are not allowed to pass, take photos, or whatever else you have in mind. Am i making myself clear?"

"Restricted area?" Lois questioned angrily."This crime happened in a public place, Malone. And unless i decide to duck my head and get past that yellow tape of yours, you cannot force me to do anything."

"Hold your horses, Lane, the orders come from above. I'm here waiting for the medical examiner , and until he takes a look at this mess, noone asks anything, noone touches anything, noone shoots anything. Mark my words, _noone_."

"Fine!" she exclaimed , pointing her index finger at him. "But don't believe you will get rid of me that easily."

"I wouldn't even dream of it." he sneered.

Figuring that she had no other choice, since there was no way now that she would be allowed anywhere near the murder scene, she strayed away from the police officers. She wouldn't give up so easily though, she needed those photographs for her investigation. However, since the gathered crowed still wasn't big enough for her to get mixed with them and pass by unnoticed, she had to find another way to reach her goal. Fortunately for her, the nearby oak trees, apart from combining beautifully with the mowed grass and the stone monuments, they could also offer a satisfying hide.

Distancing herself enough, so as to not be seen, but not too much, so as to not be able to see them , she shielded herself behind one of them and brought her pocket camera out of her purse. As she took though one step back, for the sake of a better view, her body contacted something soft, that definitely was not just another trunk.

"AAAAHHH!"

"Oh my God!"

Lois jolted away with a shriek. Turning her startled gaze to the side, she met an equally terrified pair of eyes staring back at her. With all her shock gone in an instant, she narrowed her eyes at the young man in front of her.

"What on earth are you doing here ?! You scared the hell out of me!"

The man exhaled with relief before the false alarm, and lifted up the camera he was holding. "Uhm, the obvious? Trying to get some photos of this crazy bloodbath, until you showed up..." His voice slowly faded out as he took one step closer to her, his face suddenly examining her with renewed interest..."Lois Lane?"

"You were looking for someone else?" she retorted slightly annoyed. "Wait a minute...Do i know you? Something about your bow tie seems oddly familiar."

The young guy looked down at his half opened jacket and nervously zipped it up.

"Jimmy Olsen", he cleared his throat "I was last year's new addition" he added proudly."...to the Daily Planet team i mean..." seeing Lois still frowning at him, his voice turned to a nervous muttering "...well, we didn't get to work much together..I suppose..I mean i was only 3 weeks there when you...you know...left?"

"Oh yeah, Jimmy...the new photographer..." her face was lightened up as the memory returned to its rightful place. "Right...hold on, who tipped you about the case? I don't see anyone else here except me and you."

"Well..." Jimmy's face adopted a rather smirk "The very man that discovered the body."

"Get outta here, really?"

"Absolutely...the first to find the woman, was the cemetery caretaker's son. He is one of the night watchers here."

"Not wanting to get you down from your high, Jimmy, but why would anyone contact you out of all the photographers in this city and ask you to rush over here at dawn?"

"Ok , fine... I know the guy, we were classmates. Tonight was his first time at the job, and we were up together drinking a beer , waiting to start his swift. I guess, within his panic, i was the first person that crossed his mind." Jimmy shrugged " Can't say i am complaining though. Seems like one heck of a story, if you ask me."

"Did your friend tell you anything more? Did he see anyone?"

"No, he didn't. We just talked on the phone, ok...just before he called the police. He was too horrified, but he sounded certain there was noone near the body when he found it. But that's all i managed to get from him, now that the cops have him and guard him like dogs , i doubt it will be a piece of cake for us to learn anything more."

Lois bit her lower lip and gazed pensively towards the police officers. With a first glance, this case didn't look like a common murder. The cemetery, the state of the body, the weird orders coming from MPD's higher ups ...everything looked a bit suspicious for her taste. But Jimmy was right, the police was cutting them off, leaving them too little to work with and this could be proved a real pain in the ass down the road.

"So...who notified you? How come you found yourself here, bright and early?" Jimmy asked curiously.

"You don't seriously expect me to reveal my source to you." Lois chuckled. "I am not a photographer, Jimmy boy, i am a reporter...and now i need you to find your own tree. I have to take a few photos too, and if we both stay here , most likely we are gonna end busted before we know it."

"And why don't _you_ find another tree, instead? If my memory serves me right, i was already here when you decided to show up." he protested, feeling a bit of an idiot that he had just exposed to her everything he knew, when it was clear that she was unwilling to share with him the slightest piece of info.

"Oh, please, we are not gonna play games now, like kids. There's another oak tree up there, close enough to the graves. They have already seen me, and let me tell you they did not like it one bit...so, i m not moving my butt from here until i get what i want. You, on the other hand, can go hide up there just fine..."

"Actually, i would have gone there first thing, if it hadn't been for that dark clothed guy just... standing there, next to it...He kinda gave me the creeps." Jimmy admitted embarrassed, urging her to understand. Lois wavered her eyes around the trees surrounding the area, a puzzled expression adorning her beautiful face.

"Guy?..what guy, there's noone there , Jimmy."

"I could swear...just a few minutes ago..." Jimmy searched around baffled. But the frozen stillness of the peaceful cemetery, interrupted every so often by brown and golden leaves whirling in the chill breeze, was the only thing the eye could chance upon.

"Probably he was just a cop taking a piss." Lois scoffed.

"Come on, in the cemetery?"

"Why, the dead would mind?"

"You know what? Maybe i should go find another tree after all." Jimmy made a move to leave, since he had started getting annoyed by her mockery. Suddenly, he felt a hand grabbing firmly his jacket, successfully keeping him in place. He quirked a curious eye brow at Lois. She, on the other hand, while Jimmy was looking for the invisible stranger, had rethought the whole matter. The truth was that she had been right; she was a reporter, not a photographer. Consequently, there was no way she could do with her little, pocket camera, the wonders Jimmy could perform with his professional equipment. And if something was her priority right now, was for her to take the best photos possible and analyze right after the material she would get. It was essential to start from somewhere, cause at that point, she hadn't much to begin her investigation with. And no proper investigation, meant no first page worthy article...no future in Metropolis.

"I have a suggestion. Why don't we unite our forces in this?"

"You mean like..teaming up? Me and you? Seriously?" Jimmy's hurt ego was vanished in a spur of the moment, various possibilities suddenly unfolding before his mind.

"Yeah, something like that. Look, I'll be frank. You have something I need, and I have something you need. I can't possibly get the kind of photos i would like to with my tiny camera here, because i'm too far away for my own good and they won't let me get any closer until it's too late and the area is cleaned up. As an exchange, i can definitely help with the investigation of this story and eventually the article itself. I didn't tell you this, but the reason i came back to Metropolis was to investigate the Claiborne murder."

"The dead girl in the college? I thought it was just her jealous boyfriend that knifed her."

"It did look like it, but the authorities rushed to close the case, leaving too many blurry details hanging there. Now, as i was in the outskirts of Metropolis, driving my way back here, i got a call from the same person that tipped me about the Claiborne murder, informing me about an unidentified, female body that had just been found in the Central Cemetery."

"So , you think the two cases might be connected?" Jimmy's eyes widened.

"Just a wild guess, i suppose..." Lois sighed , shrugging her shoulders. "But i believe there are already some similarities between the two crimes, so i think it worths to look more into it. The question is, do you?"

"Like heck, i do!" he cheered much to Lois' pleasant surprise. "I am game. Jimmy Olsen and Lois Lane, we'll be quite a team."

"Well, that's Lois Lane and Jimmy Olsen to you, but yeah.." she grinned triumphantly before patting his back."Now come on, get me some good close ups of the crime scene. Time is money, and at this point, we need the second and we don't have the first. So, let's get to work."


	3. Chapter 2

**A/N:** I suggest anyone that would like to get more into the mood of the first part of this chapter, to look on youtube for Liszt's Hungarian Rhapsody No.2 in C sharp minor and then read the chapter.

**2**

_That is not dead which can eternal lie,_

_yet with strange aeons even death may die_

_~ H.P.L._

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The gothic arched double door, with the graven figures on its ebony parts and the gargoyle door knocker looming at its center, opened widely under his firm push. The lights of a crystal chandelier danced before his eyes, perfectly contrasting the Cimmerian darkness outside, and he was welcomed by the warm ambiance of liquor, fire and something else. Several satyric faces turned around to meet him, as his leather booted feet contacted the soft, Persian carpet , colored in the burgundy red he so adored. From an adjacent hall, the notes of Liszt's Hungarian Rhapsody in C minor sharp, were grandiosely filling the mansion, effectively enveloping the ceaseless jabbering around the rest rooms. Large, velvet cushions were randomly scattered around, with men and women of various ages lazily laying back on them and making out, while others were sitting comfortably on the elegant, Victorian sofas and armchairs, with their laughter occasionally interrupting their wine heated convos. Everyone and everything seemed to have succumbed themselves in luxury, and its greedy savoring was beyond scandalizing.

Making his way through the libertines, he could feel many pairs of lecherous eyes silently following him. A blond woman with succulent lips, sensually blew out her smoke at his face as he passed her by, and a young man with black eyeliner feminizing his eyelids, winked at him suggestively, before returning his attention to his companions. He was the temptation himself , he knew it...and whenever he was in the mood of being bad, he was fully taking advantage of his magnetism on others without hesitation. But tonight, he wouldn't spare at them a single glance, cause, as the serious expression on his face could betray, he had different priorities.

His acute senses caught the presence of a redhead woman, leaning against a large, basalt column, wearing an emerald gown which was leaving too little in imagination. The moment he got closer, she started moving towards him and the scent of her arouse invaded his nostrils. Without halting his step, or even turning his azure gaze to her, he softly pressed two fingers on her velvet lips, silencing her.

"Sshhh...not now, Maxima."

Leaving the woman behind him, with her dreamy eyes glued on his back, he went up the five , wide, marble stairs that led to a second level. He took a moment to smile at the Bengal, white tiger, that was leisurely sprawled on one of them, and continued his way to the wide, cherry door ahead him. Of course, he didn't bother to knock.

The room was teeming with wine and a young guy who stood in the middle of it, was vividly describing something to the rest, using all forms of expressions and gestures. However, the laughter of the small company died out, the moment his straight face entered.

"They found another one."

A minute of absolute silence passed, before it was broken by the firm voice of a man that was sitting on a leather armchair, with a brunette beauty nestling half on its carved, wooden arm, half on his lap, and to whom he was obviously addressing to.

"Leave us."

Immediately, one by one, the men and women rushed to follow the clear order , without uttering a word. The brunette wench made a move to leave her comfortable place by his sides.

"Not you, Lana. Stay."

Lana leaned back at her companion, and her contemptuous smirk greeted the young man who had been the center of attention one minute ago, and who was still standing there, irritation getting the best of him.

"In case you didn't notice, Lex, i was in the middle of something here. What's so important about _him_, that i have to always make you guys some space? If this involves the clan, why i don't get to stay too?"

Alexander looked calmly at the younger man, the hint of what could grow into a sardonic smile, fluttering at the edge of his lips.

"For a series of reasons that you, Lucas, don't have the maturity to understand , and i don't have the patience to explain to you."

"You know what, never mind" he dismissively waved his hand in the air. "I can't waste my time on your boring, little secta. If anyone asks, I am playing pool." Lucas headed towards the exit, momentarily stopping inches away from his face. He sized him up and down, and then locked his gaze with his azure one.

"Bitch"

It came out almost as a spit, before Lucas dragged his arrogance out of the room. He remained apathetic at the insult, the uncanny duo in front of him consuming his complete focus.

"I am all ears, Kal." Alexander lifted his hands in an opening gesture.

"A second body was discovered, this time in the Central Cemetery. I got a message at dawn."

"So, that's why you left the bed so early...." Lana purred , resting her cheek on Alexander's silk clothed shoulder. Her cattish eyes sparkled at the light of a nearby candle. Her hand sneaked its way on Alexander's thigh, starting a slow, light caress. He , however, maintained his cold composure.

"The victim?"

"A nurse, living and working more than thirty years old. Her name holds little importance, but i have all the details, if you need them. And no...there doesn't seem to be any relation with her and the Claiborne student at the suburbs." Kal added, already having read the next question forming inside the other man's mind.

Alexander rubbed his forehead thoughtfully and stood up, disengaging himself from Lana's embrace. Nonchalantly, she slipped in his warm seat, instinctively straightening her back and slightly rising up her chin. Kal always thought she looked like a Queen , whenever she did that. Meanwhile, her dethroned half had already approached the counter with the drinks, preparing himself a strong dose of his favorite malt.

"Then, it looks like the killer is butchering up females randomly."

"Maybe he is a Newborn." Lana offered. "Someone inexperienced that was recently transformed, and who might have skipped us. This could explain the bloody mess every time. It's the graceless work of an amateur."

"Possibly, it wouldn't explain the distance between the two attacks though. It's hard to imagine a frightened Newborn ravaging his way throughout Metropolis. Newborns usually wander around the places they feel safe." Kal intervened.

"We have only two bodies up to now, Kal. A bit early for you to keep statistics, isn't it?"

"Considering the danger such incidents enclose for the clan, i am really not hoping for more dead bodies to get into conclusions, _Lana_". In retort, she grinned. She always loved the way his pretentiously husky voice made her name sound.

Taking a sip from his drink, Alexander swung his gaze between them, a thousand of different thoughts and schemes racing though his mind.

"Lana...call Tess." he finally said decisively. "Ask her to search all the lists with the Newborns of the past two months. If we missed anyone, we'll find it. As about you..."

"I am going back to the cemetery." The dark haired man firmly stated. Not saying a word to him, Alexander turned again to the counter and brought out a second glass, placing it next to his own. Silently, he proceeded in adding ice and filling it with the same scotch.

For the first time, Kal lowered his gaze and slowly shook his head. "I went there early in the morning, as soon as i got the message, but the police had already reached the place first and the sun wouldn't let me focus anyway."

Alexander paused, his hand automatically stopping the pouring of whiskey into the glass. His stare grew blank, aimlessly nailing the lustrous surface of the wooden counter.

"You know well I don't want you to wander around in the daylight." he chose his words slowly.

"I am fine. Lex, really.."

"Really?" He snapped out , forcing their eyes to meet. "You have a weird definition of 'fine', Kal El." he scoffed at him "I suppose any scorches are considered a small fry to you."

"I didn't stay for long outside, Lex. I left the cemetery and spent half of the day in the morgue and then the Library, researching about the victim." His voice finally softened, as he urged him to understand "I am fine..."

Alexander kept their gazes locked for a minute before finally nodding. Kal didn't expect him to understand, he never would, but his agreement was vital for him to move on, to assure himself he was doing the right thing. Lifting one of the glasses above his shoulder level, Alexander lightly shook its golden nectar, the ice cubes ringing at its crystalline walls. Lana took the hint and slowly approached them, getting the heady drink in her hands.

"Want me to send anyone with you?"

"No, it's just a routine investigation. Besides, you know well they'll most likely hinder my work there, than actually help me." he chuckled as he was heading for the door.

"Don't take too long, Kal El." Lana's sultry whisper reached his ears. "You know where to find us, don't keep us waiting..." Her tongue trailed a provocative, wet path on Alexander's cheek, while the dandy's eyes, always nailed on him, twinkled with mischief.

Kal stiffened for a minute, before closing the door behind him.

_________

Lois leaned against the door frame of her bedroom, her eyes gradually demisting themselves from sleepiness and travelling around the small flat.

"Well, hello shithole! Missed me?"

Earlier, when she had decided to put a temporary end to her morning adventures and finally drag her weary self back to the place she had once called home, she hadn't managed to do much. Tiredness from the previous night had finally caught up with her, allowing her time only to unstick the "FOR RENT" label from her main door and blindly carry her limp body to the hadn't even bothered to undress herself. If Chloe had been indeed calling her, undoubtedly she would have freaked out by now; there was no way she could have heard her cellphone from the narcotic sleep she had sunk in.

Five hours later, and with the dusk already having handed its place to the night, there she was standing and staring at the ghost of her old apartment. The one she had rushed to abandon a year ago, leaving the memories of her life to rot and dust along with the furniture. She had moved to a much better place, she thought. Where she wouldn't have to worry about the central heating, or about the annoying leak in that 's high class apartment. Not, of course, that this was the reason she had followed him all the way to Star City. No, she had a different motive; she had once believed it was called love. But she had to admit that there were many plus coming with the full package named Oliver. Little did she know back then that, instead of worrying about the house, she would end up worrying about its owner.

Soon after she had moved out, she had put the flat up for rent. But through the months that followed, she had witnessed herself rejecting the one possible tenant after the other. She would make up the craziest excuses, sometimes marveling at her own self right after. Oliver always thought she was being too picky, cause subconsciously she was still emotionally attached to the life she had forsaken and which she was striving hard to not let go. Now she knew that might have been a harbinger after all of everything that followed. She had returned to find her life waiting for her, dusted and silent, just like she had once left it. Who would have thought that dreams can burn down to ashes so easily? All in a year's time.

Under the weight of her memories, Lois spied on her strong will bending. Her back slid slowly down the wall, until her bottom felt the cold floor underneath. And she would have stayed there, tangled within the web of her sorrow, if it hadn't been for the sudden knocking on her door, abruptly tossing her back to reality.

"Guess which photos are ready!" A smiling Jimmy greeted her from the doorstep, lightly shaking a large envelop before her face.

"Whoah, you're fast. Did you find the place easily?" she asked as she closed the door behind him.

"Well i did a couple of rounds around the block, but you could say it was an easy find. And speaking about findings, wait to see the photos. I analyzed them , zoomed in and out and..." his smiled faltered as his eyes fell on the chaotic living room before him.."..whoah, and i thought my place looked messy."

Rolling her eyes, Lois put her hands on her hips and looked up at him. "I also can't cook, do you have a problem with that?"

"Me none at all, can't say the same though for the guy you are with..."

Earlier thoughts shadowed her face again and her lips tightened, as Lois silently bit her wounded pride. Jimmy's eyes widened , the sudden hurt in her expression not passing by unnoticed.

"I am so sorry, I...don't know your back story, i mean..sometimes i just open my mouth and a lot of bilge jump out." Jimmy smiled awkwardly, his fingers fidgeting with the envelop in his hands.

"Don't worry" her features softened " It's just that i only now came back after a long ride. I'll take some time to clean up later, now we have work to do."

Her encouraging wink triggered him back into excitement. In a few strides, he was already sitting on the couch before the coffee table.

"You are gonna love this."

"Well let me have a look, scoot over."

"I must warn you though, in some the sight is pretty gruesome."

"I am a big girl Jimmy, i 'll try not to faint." she mocked before snatching the envelop out of his hands.

The first two photos were featuring her in all her glory, vividly arguing with Malone. Lois rolled her eyes at Jimmy, whose face had meanwhile adopted a deeper shade of red, before moving to the third photo. It was a close up of the gravestone she had used as a cover, when talking to the young officer. The name Jacob Cohen was prevailing in the photo, but now the Latin phrase underneath was clearer.

"Oh, here's my moment of embarrassment."

"What, the stone?...Oh, is that the one you were talking about? Your imaginary relative?"

"Yep, that's the one. Couldn't have picked a weirdest tombstone."

"Weirdest, how?"

"Well, are you aware of many people with obviously Jewish names , having Latin quotes on their graves?" Lois mentally repeated the phrase a few times. 'VERITATEM QUAERE ET INSANIAM INVENI'

"No, i haven't." Jimmy admitted. "You know what it means?"

"Do i look like a Latin teacher?"

"I guess not." he chuckled "But people write often weird stuff on their tombstones. Oh, once, i read this crazily creepy rhyme on one ...Remember man, as you walk by, As you are now, so once was I. As I am now, so shall you be. Remember this and follow me....pretty spooky, huh?"

Lois looked at him incredulously, her jaw threatening to drop at any given second. Jimmy's goofy smile faded away from his face , and he cleared his throat.

"Ok let's just pretend i never mentioned this."

Shaking her head, Lois looked at the remaining photos. They were all picturing the nefarious crime , in various angles and distances. The cut around the woman's neck was now very clear , and this was obviously the most serious and fatal wound on her. However, the young police officer had been right; it wasn't the only one. The body seemed covered in scratches and bruises, all evidence of a wild battle that must have had taken place. Bigger and smaller cuts could also been found in various spots, completing the horrific masterpiece of gore. But it wasn't just that. There was something else. Lois frowned , examining closer one of the photos zooming in on the traumas. There was something...

"Oh my God!" she suddenly exclaimed, her eyes opening wide ."Jimmy, are those bites?"

He nodded slowly , verifying the ghoulish discovery. "Can't be sure, but they look like they are...We are talking about one seriously sick bastard. That's it, if he is just one..."

Lois exhaled deeply, falling silent for a few seconds, her irises still moving frantically on the photos. Turning her attention to him after a while, she couldn't suppress the hint of a smile forming on her face.

"This could be the chance of a lifetime, Jimmy. If the article is done right, Perry will love it..."

"Perry?" he stared at her perplexed.." Oh, i thought you would know."

"Know what?"

"Well.." he hemmed.." I don't think Perry can do much from where he is. He was replaced three months ago."

Lois blinked a few times , the unexpected news startling her. "You must be joking...They replaced Perry? Why on earth anyone that cared for his newspaper's profit, would fire the best editor in the city?"

Jimmy shrugged. "I don't know what to say. It's been a surprise for everyone in the Daily Planet, Perry didn't seem to have any issues with the owners prior to that."

"How come i never heard of this before? I might have been in the Star City, but i was still working as a correspondent for the Daily Planet. Besides, the media should have been buzzing about it."

"Actually, it was kept a secret at first. We were told that Perry was on sick leave for a few days. Until the days turned into weeks. And until, eventually, the new editor appeared. Everything happened under our nose."

"Do you know if he is ok? Or this whole sickness was a total set up too?"

"I don't know, really. But i heard that after his replacement, he decided to withdraw in the suburbs for a while. So , i guess he is fine. Physically at least."

Lois took a moment to process everything she was hearing. She had never imagined her return to be like that. From the first moment she had set foot on Metropolis, she was being flooded with the weirdest events and news she could imagine. She had come back only to find the remnants of a city she was barely recognizing anymore. Suddenly, she stood up.

"Get ready, we are going back to the cemetery."

"What? Wait..what? why?" Jimmy rose up from his seat and stared at her perplexed. Lois didn't seem to pay much attention to him though, busying herself with putting on her jacket and gathering all the photos to take them with her.

"Could you hold on a second, i don't understand, why running back there all of a sudden?"

"Cause now it's the only time police won't be around to toy with our nerves." she blurted out without even looking at him " And since you said there's a new editor in town, one i particularly don't know of, the need to get a proper investigation was just doubled. We have to make him a good impression."

"Her...it's a she. And she is really demanding."

"A better challenge for us then. Your camera has night vision, right?"

"Lois wait, wait..."

She stopped right before opening the door and turned around , finding him still standing at the same spot in front the coffee table.

"I can't do this , Lois. It's late..."

"Oh , please Jimmy. Don't chicken on me now, ghosts only come out after midnight and it's still a bit after ten pm." she joked.

"No, no..." he vehemently shook his head, an honest expression of regret saddening his face. "It's not about that. It's just that...contrary to you, i still have a job in the Planet, Lois. A job i 've been ignoring all day , in order to deal with this case. And i m seriously packed with work, i have enough films to develop for one night."

"Well , can't that wait until tomorrow?"

"No, I am afraid it can't. I have to deliver them tomorrow and you...you were right about one thing in the morning, Lois...I am just one of the many photographers in this city, they don't need me. If i stay behind at work, it won't cost them much to 'decapitate' me...heck no, if they can do that to Perry White and walk away with it. And i'm just on my own here, with a rent to pay..and bills...However much i enjoy working with you, i can't afford losing my job for one case."

"I understand..." she finally signed, realization that she had just come back and was still on her own out there, sinking in.

"Look..." he stepped closer "...I 'll tell you what. What don't you wait one day? We can go together and investigate all you like tomorrow. I will be free and ready to follow you in any cemetery you want." he smiled, hope that she would understand sparkling in his eyes.

Lois nodded slowly. "It's ok, Jimmy, no worries. We'll have plenty of time tomorrow. Now go home and finish your work, i can't afford you losing your job either." She smiled heartily at him and he beamed, before leaving her flat, whistling a "goodnight" as he was going down the stairs.

Lois rested her head on the closed door. Perfect silence instantly settled in the small flat, making her loneliness shine through its dark corners. Jimmy was a photographer, one of the many, hence he was right fearing for his future inside the Daily Planet. However, she couldn't help but fear for her own future outside it. For , regardless her past mirth, she was as well a reporter, one of the many , and if Jimmy had to slow down in order to not lose his job, she had to speed up , in order to gain it back.

In a spin of the moment, she had taken her decision. Drawing near the window, she made sure Jimmy was out of sight, before grabbing her car keys. He would understand.


	4. Chapter 3

For this third chapter, again i would advise anyone that would like to get in the mood of the fic, to search in youtube for the instrumental version of Marilyn Manson's "If I was a Vampire", in order to have an idea of which song Kal is whistling at first, and then puts on his car's CD player.

* * *

**3**

_If I was your vampire,_

_Certain as the moon, Instead of killing time,_

_We'll have each other Until the sun._

_If I was your vampire,_

_Death waits for no my hands_

_Across your face, Because I think_

_Our time has come._

_~ Marilyn Manson "If I was your Vampire"_

_____________  
_

The night turned murky, as the dark soared across the sky, cradling the moon in its arms. The clouds were softly strolling high above, hiding the moonlight behind their abysmal obscurity. At points though, a single moonbeam would penetrate their thickness, momentarily showering the world below with its silver magic. With his back against the cold wall of a family mausoleum, Kal El was harking the shadows. Whistling to them his favorite tune, the one he would always turn the volume on in his car, he could observe them expanding, while patiently waiting for the patrolling night watcher to disappear. His raven hair gleamed with a preternatural beauty under the rare lunar light, and the nocturnal chill of the cemetery was rejuvenating him.

In the nights, he felt alive once again.

He had always been different from the rest of his clan. An outsider, and therefore a worshiped one. A God. Ever since his orphan days, he had been feeling as a far cry from his brothers and sisters. For , unlike them, the sun could not kill him. The scorches were always excruciatingly painful everytime he would stay out in the daylight for long, and the weakness wearing down his system was sometimes unbearable. But the sunlight would still fail miserably to be his nemesis.

He had never known why or how. Even his background story was unable to provide him with a satisfying answer, unable to light up the mystery of his very own existence. He had been an orphan, aimlessly dragging his childish eyes through the world, until the hand of Fate had led him up to the Luthors' doorstep. It was Lionel Luthor, a baron of many faces and twice as many secrets, that had gathered him away from the streets, sheltering him under his protective wing. Who cared if the cost of this had been his mortal heart? He didn't. In one single bite, Lionel had taken away his childish innocence, forever depriving him of his virgin soul. In one single bite, Kal El had found a harbor for his spirit and a meaning for his life. The alternative would have been much worse.

Wandering around, savoring the world throughout the days and nights, his emerald eyes had witnessed the cruelty in all its glory. As an orphan, he would have become either a ping-pong ball among the various foster families in the best case, or an abused rag doll among the nauseous walls of an asylum in the worst. As an adult, with that face, he would have probably ended up in the streets, building a career as a male whore.

Kal's superior chuckle broke the silence; according to some, he could still be considered as one.

But regardless, his life would have been a paean to misery. And his unavoidable end, would have come among these very gravestones, in this very cemetery he was currently standing. Such an inglorious way to spend the eternity. No, Lionel Luthor might have not been the best mentor for him while he was alive, but if there was one thing Kal El would never blame him for, would be for introducing him to the dark side. For transforming him from the prey of the day, to the predator of the night.

No one though, not even Lionel, had managed to explain to him his uniqueness. The Newborns that would be courageous enough to approach him and ask him 'why', would always walk away disappointed. He had no answer to give them. He would just tell them to learn to accept themselves the way they were, to appreciate this gift they were graced with. That was at least what he was trying to do. To accept. In the end, he had concluded that, just like vampires were an anomaly of nature, he had been the anomaly of his own species. It could happen. He thought.

Soon, the heartbeat of the night watcher vanished from the area.

"Was about time..."

His whisper trailed off, as Kal El started walking slowly towards the familiar angel statue. He began whistling again, his tune echoing through the trees. Little did he care though, for rarely a mortal was privileged enough to be able to hear that. Besides, the only mortals around, were safely burried six feet under. He couldn't help but audaciously grin at the irony of an immortal like him, of one that was defying Death, laughing at His face, smoothly walking now among his sisters and brothers who fell, beaten by His sword. Poor creatures. Such an oxymoron it was.

And then he heard it.

His whistling died out and he stood still, carefully listening to the wind. A heartbeat. There was no doubt against his senses. A faint heartbeat that was gradually growing stronger and stronger. Someone was approaching...and this someone was not the night watcher. This heartbeat was erratic, indicating eagerness, fear...not someone who was used to patrol through the cemetery at late hours. He shook his head. Only a few strides away from the angel statue, such a shame to be interrupted again.

Kal El turned around abruptly. For a moment, his eyes pierced through the darkness behind him and then...he let the shadows swallow him.

"Damn those vast cemeteries and their parking hours" Lois snorted for the umpteenth time, as she made her way through the graves down the hill. With the parking area already closed since 10 pm, she had no other choice than to leave her car outside the gates, and walk through half the grim place in order to reach the crime scene. The cemetery itself was closing in one hour, and she must have looked completely insane to the gate-keeper, when she had blurted out she was visiting her father's grave at such a late hour. If she kept it up like this, soon she would bury her whole family in order to brainstorm new excuses.

So, there she was now, hurriedly pacing among the lifeless monuments, with a flashlight trembling inside her sweaty palms, and her mind striving to reason the morbid silence settled all around. Not to mention she had deliberately chose to mock and ignore the little voice inside her head, which insisted that, what she had heard coming from the trees a few moments ago, hadn't been the gentle rustle of leaves , but rather an eerie melody being whistled.

Such was the tension clenching her nerves, that she almost missed the angel statue. Ducking below the yellow security tape, she stood before the monument and the rest few graves that consisted the crime area. Everything shined differently now, under the veil of the night. Slowly, she cast the light on every part of the statue. The dead body might have been carried away, most of the bloody evidence of its tragedy though, were still haunting the fine stone. Turning the flashlight towards the ground, Lois started examining the spot where the dead woman had been found lying. Traces of dry blood were still visible, and the soil was obviously compact. However, around the place the body had been found, and apart any tracks possibly caused by the police officers, everything seemed completely intact. At first glance, no trails of a body having been dragged , nor additional evidence of an intense fight around the specific spot , seemed to have ever existed. This was complicating even more the situation. Had that woman been standing at the very spot she died all along then? And what could have possibly led her before a creepy angel statue during the night's dreariest hours? Or why the killer would take away all her clothes right after? Lois frowned at the annoying knot of tangled possibilities before her. Something didn't fit, and she didn't have to be a detective to realize that.

Kal El watched closely the woman before him. Her aura had captivated his senses, from the minute she had appeared uninvited to ruin his moment. He knew the intruder was a woman before setting his green orbs upon her; he could smell the moisture emanating from her feminine core. The scent was lightly dazing him, and in another place, at another time, he would undoubtedly challenge himself to get drunk within this heady aroma. However, under the current circumstances, he was way more concerned about her presence right then and there, and how or why she was involved in this whole mess. His restless gaze traveled up her back, pausing for a second at the invisible tension forming on her shoulders. The fear spoken by her body language , fascinated him. A grin cracked in the darkness , revealing its sharpen teeth.

That was what always thrilled him in humans; their total unawareness of who, or better say what, could be standing out there with them, any given minute. Such a limited perception.

Taking one step closer, he let his candescent gaze feast on her alabaster nape. Underneath the smooth skin, the neck veins were bustling with life, deviously enslaving his essence. It would be so easy for him to just _taste_ her, but he did not want to. _Playing_, on the other hand, was a whole other word...

He leaned in. Bringing his body impossibly close to hers, but yet denying it their contact. His whistling started again, before morphing to a saucy smile that lingered inches away from her nape. His lips lowered over her pulse and his sparkling eyes were slowly guided up the side of her face, examining her focused expression. Shutting them for a moment, Kal El breathed in her wet, female fragrance. And then he exhaled, his cold breath, mixed now with her own odor, traversing along her drumming vein.

Lois felt a chill zephyr brushing its way across her neck.

"Stupid place.." she growled between her teeth.." stupid, cold place..stupid cold wind, that's all i needed now, when.."

Her eyes fell on the candles lighting up a nearby grave. The wind had just heaved. And their feeble flames hadn't even trembled. Lois gulped, a shiver suddenly jolting throughout her skin. She stopped fidgeting with the VR camera she had earlier brought out of her purse, and the knuckles of her right hand started blanching out , under her vice-grip on the flashlight. And when the same melody came rippling through the air, Lois felt all the precious blood being drained out of her system.

Kal's eyes snapped open. He had felt her growing rigid all of a sudden and the accelerated pounding inside her chest thundered through his ears. He took a step back. This could not be happening. This could not...

Mastering all her courage, Lois turned around, ready to take her stalker by assault.

"Who's there?!"

Only her flashlight met nothing but endless dimness, before it died out.

"Fuck, perfect timing..." She vehemently brandished the flashlight in the air, even hit it nervously with her palms, but in vain. Within this deeper obscurity, only the figures of her surroundings could be lined out. With the main resource of light taken away from her, the shadows were self-multiplying and the simplest sounds of nature, were suddenly being maximized to unthinkable degrees.

"Great...don't shit yourself now, Lois." She took an uncertain step ahead. "Who is there?!...Come out, hide and seek's time is over..." And another step..." Just let me warn you, I'm not a third degree black belt just for the fun of it, so... whoever the hell are you, you just picked the wrong girl to..."

Indignant that it had been ignored all along, rudely disguised behind a nebulous night, the moonlight swore its revenge. For one single moment, the gloomy clouds subsided. For one single moment, the sky glowed silver in all its glory, pouring its alien brightness through the asleep cemetery.

"..mess up with.." What had started as a threat, faded out as a whisper, while Lois stood abashed to the sight before her. Up the hill, next to an age-long tree, probably the same one that had fazed Jimmy in the morning, a lonely male figure stood still, gleaming unearthly almost as much as the moonlit sky that fathered him.

The night could be so tricky sometimes.

Once again , the moon hid itself behind the midnight mist , sinking everything to its familiar duskiness. The moment was gone, almost as fast as it had originally appeared. Lois felt her eyes watering. She couldn't fathom if she was feeling awe or terror for what she had just witnessed...if she had lived a marvelous dream or had just crushed into a tenebrous reality.

"What are you doing here , ma'am?"

Lois yelped. Her legs staggered to the side on their own accord, and she found herself flat on the ground, with a strong light painfully blinding her vision.

"Can you repeat the question, _after you take off my eyes this freaking thing?!_"

Finding her old self back, she sounded irritated. The night watcher lowered his flashlight, and offered her a hand, which she of course ignored. "Great, now apart ghosts, i get also spooked by morons" she murmured as she was standing up.

"So, what are you doing here?"

Lois plastered on her face the best smile she could fake when annoyed. " I am sorry, i was visiting my father's grave when my flashlight ran out of battery."

The man eyed her suspiciously. "This late? The cemetery closed twenty minutes ago."

"It's been only a week he passed away, i try to be with him as much as possible..." she let out a soft sob. "I am so sorry, sir, i just got disorientated.." Maybe if this whole journalism thing didn't work out, she could jump to acting after all.

"I understand." The man's voice softened. "Come with me, i will escort you to the gates, we can..."

Frowning, Lois followed the man's gaze all the way down to her left hand. Where she was still holding her VR camera. _"Shit"_

"Look, i can explain."

"You better save any explanations for the police." the night watcher retorted, as he brought out his radio. "You were snooping around a crime scene, in the middle of the night, holding a camera. I know well, you people, eager to steal evidence first chance."

Lois' jaw dropped. "Are you kidding me? Steal what from the crime scene? Shove my hand into the soil and pull up the weeds? Or load the stones on my back and start walking down the streets?!"

"Listen, lady. I am not gonna risk my butt over yours. If you have indeed nothing to hide, you'll be done in a matter of hours. But I am not gonna take my chances." He looked serious and Lois could do nothing but grimace all she wanted and still play along.

"Whatever! Just lead me back to the gates, i had enough surprises here for tonight."

Perched onto the cemetery's wall, Kal El watched the two figures as they were distancing themselves from him more and more. In a leap, he was already outside and into his black Mustang '67. Having rebuilt it, with an added cd player now as a part of its polished, cherry wooden dashboard, he put his familiar song on. Raising the volume to its limits, he cast a last glance back before the Mustang disappeared in the highways.

_________________

Crawling his way through the humid dungeons, the morbid dampness and suffocating mould never being an issue, Kal El reached the stone, spiral staircase that lead to the ground floor of the mansion. Instead of passing through the central gates, he had entered the opening near the old, abandoned aqueduct, and slithered through the dark, underground catacombs, which ultimately ended up to the mansion's dungeons, creating a channel with the world outside. He had chosen to avoid the clamorous farrago of voices, music and sex that his fellow vampires would create in the main halls, while partying the bliss of night away. The haze enfolding his mind for the last two hours, was too opaque for him to ignore it.

The woman had sensed him. How this could be possible, was way beyond him. All he knew was that she had felt his breath tantalizing her soft skin...she had caught on his secret whistling through the nocturnal breeze. Neither of these were supposed to happen, no mortal soul was supposed to experience the vibes of a vampire, unless their immortal spirits decided so. No man. No woman.

The name 'Lois Lane' whirled like a tornado within the neurons of his mind. He had driven off the nearby police station before them, where he had stayed long enough to pick up on what he was looking for; her name. Lois Lane, a young , ambitious reporter, living and working downtown. And it was this additional realization that, no matter all the precautions they had taken , the Press still managed to sneak its way through their business, that made everything shine even more ominous. They thought they were in control of such situations, but the unforeseen appearance of a reporter right in the middle of their affairs, only proved otherwise.

The brutal truth that he had been more interested in captivating the woman, than actually questioning her presence there, was a whole other matter that he felt he had no courage to deal with at that point. Because a part of himself was already laughing at him from the corner of his mind, while cynically asking him who had been the real captive.

Eventually , his wandering through the mansion came to a halt. So drown he was in the medley of his thoughts, he hadn't even realised to which exact direction he had been heading. Slowly, he lifted his eyes to the gilded door before him. A low chuckle escaped his mouth. He should have figured that, troubled or not, his inmost urges would still find a way to lead him to the source of his forbidden satisfaction. His fingers grazed softly the glassy surface of the door, his debauched soul inducing him to surrender and open it, but his upset consciousness holding him back to the events of the night. Luckily for him, the Devil had never just let his believers to come to him; he always found his flock first.

The door creaked as Alexander opened it slowly, resting his forearm against it. His dark indigo, satin robe was hanging loosely. And he was wearing nothing underneath.

"How long have you been standing here?"

"Long enough..."

Taking in the weary appearance of his soul, Alexander wet his lips.

"The night is still young..."

"Lex.." He tried to swallow down his doubts.."..in the cemetery, I.."

"Ssshhh.." A thumb sealed his full lips, before lightly pressing the bottom one down. "Why bringing up now what can wait until tomorrow?".

A familiar giggle echoed through the corridor behind him, as Lana peeped from Lex's side. A transparent, red nightgown was fairily hugging her curves, with her erect, dark nipples stretching the feathery fabric, and the crimson drink in her elegant, wine glass, was anything but the product of grapes.

"Well looks like our beautiful wanderer is here...Care to join our little party, _Kal El_?" Lana breathed out his name as in the peak of an orgasm, before letting another mischievous giggle linger around. Kal glanced over Alexander's shoulder , at the 'little party' Lana was referring to. The room was full with candles of various sizes and the sweet odor of sex was emanating from its every corner. A young, blindfolded woman, with what looked like a dog's collar around her neck , kept laughing while stumbling on the furniture. Fortunately for her, she was too drunk to understand anything.

"There's always room for one more." Lana whistled before bringing the glass in her lips, sipping the bloody nectar. Kal's gaze followed the liquid as it descended her throat. A blaze flashed red within his free from his Furies, he placed a soft kiss on Alexander's fingertips and let his eyes roam on the brunette's transparent gown.

"Didn't i tear a similar one like..two nights ago?"

"I always have more than one...besides, tonight is my love's turn." Lana answered playfully as her hand slipped through Alexander's open robe. With his turn, Alexander gently took away the glass from her hand, and with the arrogant smile of a victor, raised it before Kal's eager lips.

"No one fights the hunger, Kal El. No one."

The heady smell of fresh blood overran his senses, effectively putting aside any hint of the earlier tension. Meeting Alexander's grin with his own dazzling one, he took the drink and gulped down every precious drop of it. Feeling the ancient, untamed fire, flaring up his insides, Kal threw the glass over his shoulder to the dim corridor behind him, before starting unbuttoning his black shirt.

_____________

"If I am alright? I only now got home after spending the entire freaking night in a police station, with Malone's foghorn voice piercing through my ears, how does this sound for 'alright'?"

With her cellphone pressed firmly between her cheek and her shoulder, Lois started searching for her apartment's keys as she ascended the last stair to her floor. She showily rolled her eyes when noticing Jimmy standing outside her door, something she hadn't anticipated so early in the morning. The young photographer lifted up to her a paper bag from the corner's Donuts 'n' Coffee, gaining himself a second rolling of her hazels.

"... No i am fine cuz, this is just the overly caffeinated version of me. What else you think i was doing all night there? Drinking coffee and arguing about crap..then drinking more coffee and arguing about more crap. I had three blacks already and apparently.." she took a glimpse inside the bag that Jimmy had just placed on her desk "..I am gonna have a fourth one too." The young man raised up his hands in surrender.

"But i wish you could have seen their faces, when they realized the tape was blank and I was telling the truth all along, that i hadn't shot anything. Ha! Bastards, suited them right...What? Yeah..Yeah, to be honest, progress in this case might be slower than i expected, it doesn't seem easy.....Huh? Oh please Chloe, just have mercy on my headache, don't give me another 'I told you so' speech...Plus, remind me why did i ever listen to you and Oliver and put the flat up on the small ads? My cellphone keeps buzzing with wannabe tenants, it's insane, i don't remember having got so many calls when i was in Star City. Did everyone discover the place now that i came back?...What? Oh...Yeah, yeah i will take the ad down first chance, i mean...we are done with Oliver, i don't want people to keep calling at his place, asking for my own flat....Ok..yes, i'll call you later, bye."

"So..." Jimmy cleared his throat as soon as she closed the cellphone. "..looks like you did go to the cemetery after all..."

"Don't push it."

"I don't, i don't..." he shook his head negatively.."It's...it's cool."

Lois glanced at him for a moment and sighed.

"Well, if it somehow consoles you, my whole ghost hunting adventure evolved to a complete disaster...as you 've probably already heard. Hey, shouldn't you already be in the Daily Planet?"

"I am actually on my way there. I just stopped by to bring you some breakfast along with today's DP. I figured...you know, that you might have fallen dead tired on your bed and wouldn't have time for these. Of course, i never expected to not even find you in when i knocked on the door."

"It appears though we had the same idea...I did buy the newspaper myself as i was heading back here, i just hadn't the time to riffle through it." Lois snatched the newspaper from Jimmy's hands and started eagerly turning the pages. Soon though, her enthusiastic smile morphed into a deep frown, which, with its turn, gave its place to burgeoning anger.

"I can't believe this shit!" she finally exclaimed, her hazels casting flames. " What is wrong with the people in the Daily Planet? Did you read this?"

Jimmy nodded sadly, but she carried on without paying much attention.

"' _An unidentified female body was discovered yesterday in the Central Cemetery of Metropolis. The police has reasons to believe that the motive of the attacker was robbery. The research is still in progress_.'...seriously, are they for real? We have the murder of the season , a barbarically butchered body within a case that doesn't even make sense, and all the most prestigious newspaper of the city has to say is..this? A brief mention which even happens to be tucked away in some random page, that hardly anyone will read anyway. And what the heck is this about robbery being the main motive? Oh, i suppose some homeless ragman decided to slaughter the woman and steal away her clothes...there you go, robbery! Not to mention that while he was doing that, he thought of adding a couple of bites to his masterpiece. This is insane!"

"Slow down , Lois, take a breath..."

Her chest was heaving under the pressure of her tantrum. She had expected the police to not be willing to cooperate with them...but to witness the Daily Planet itself doing the same, purposely burying a serious case, that was something she hadn't been prepared for. Nor she was ready to accept. For when someone put the knife on the throat of a Lane, they would just shove it deeper.

" In the evening, we are going to the morgue. Everyone is concealing information. We need to find the autopsy."

"Whoah Lois..." Jimmy protested, swallowing hard " We can't go and steal those papers , we are not thieves."

"Who said anything about stealing? We are just going to break into the morgue and take some shots of them, in order to analyze the findings of the aytopsy back here."

Jimmy rolled his eyes at her new, ambitious plan. "So , we ain't gonna be thieves, but we are gonna be burglars, great difference. A man can't avoid the life of an outlaw by your side, can he?"

"He can if he is the sheriff" she joked "..but i don't do well with authorities....Oh, relax Jimmy" she patted his back "The plan is gonna work great, Lane and Olsen team duo, remember?"

Jimmy examined with amazement her glowing face. Her determination and optimism must have been contagious, because he could feel them slowly creeping into his mind as well.

"How do you do that?..How can you be enraged and bitter the one minute, and, then, full of energy and ready to start all over in the next one?" he inquired with honesty.

"Well, that's the Lane charisma to you." she winked at him, taking a sip from her aromatic coffee. Jimmy looked at her speechless for a moment, before his lips gradually curling up to an equally bright smile.

"I better get going...i don't want to be late for work. I guess i ll see you later, then?" he asked while heading for the door.

"That's right...oh and you should be here at eight sharp! Not a qaurter later. Whoever said that the dead will wait, obviously hadn't taken a look at this one here! Who knows what might happen till we actually get there...."


	5. Chapter 4

**4**

_Time is an abyss. Profound as a thousand nights... _

_Centuries come and go... To be unable to grow old is terrible._

_Death is not the worst... There are things more horrible than death. _

_Can you imagine... Enduring centuries... experiencing each day with the same futile things._

_~ Nosferatu (Herzog)_

___________________

Happiness.

All he could feel was happiness in and out...surrounding his pure essence and penetrating his soft skin, only to overwhelm his anima before bursting out his every pore in the shape of blazing light.

He was walking through a field, the warm daylight dancing on his face without leaving a single scald behind. The sun was strengthen him up. He knew it. He could feel it everytime he was breathing its brightness in...every time he would let the day run through his system and inject him with life. So powerful he was. So alive. So loved.

In his dream, everything looked and smelled the same. Only this time, something was different...he was not alone.

He was holding someone's hand. Through the stranger's eyes - his eyes - he looked up, but it was impossible to see who was walking by his side ; the glare of the sun was blinding him. He didn't seem to care though, for the feeling of that hand gently entwined with his own, was the most natural in the world. His smile though faltered, as his eyes drifted ahead. Once again, he was standing in front of the cave. The hole. The abyss.

The warmness of the person beside him had vanished, his hand was now hanging limp and cold. Frozen. The dream followed down its familiar path and he lifted his gaze above the cave, coming across the same graven but blurry letters. He could read those letters. He had seen them before. All he needed was time...just a few more moments...just a few more seconds...

An alien shriek of someone or something in great agony, pierced though the sky above , tearing the thrumming dreamworld in two. Soon, the apocalyptic storm braked loose , pouring manically down on his lonely soul, mercilessly painting it scarlet. The same harrowing pain pervaded his being, making his heartbeat erratic and forcing his muscles to flex and twist. Suddenly, he started feeling hotter and hotter, until he was burning with a fever so inexplicable and insufferable for him. This paroxysm was bending his will, kneeling him down...He craved to scream, to slash the flesh of his heaving chest and expose the inmost recesses of his heart, releasing the pressure to the world...The beast inside him moaned uncontrollably; he had to let it out...

Kal El woke up panting, a wild growl escaping his lips. A wave of bliss hit him full force, disorientating him. Blinking a couple of times, he raised his neck from the soft pillows. Without being able to catch his breath, his eyes searched frantically for the source of that heat still pooling in his lower belly, threatening to explode. They didn't delay in finding it at the sight of a torrent of fiery hair, rhythmically bobbing up and down his crotch.

"Maxima..."

Long crimson nails, sparkling at the light of a nearby candle faintly irradiating the dusky bedroom, clawed his skin as a female hand made its way up his belly , stroking his taut stomach. Kal's head fell back and he firmly shut his eyes , in an attempt to distinguish and isolate reality between the haze of his nightmare and the heated excitement he had been violently pulled back to find. Arching his back to the sensations jolting though his naked body, triggering his cold blood to a turbulent pulsation, he bucked his hips and hissed, feeling Maxima's capable mouth swallowing him with eagerness.

As the passion drained out from the dim, forbidding room, the fog commanding his mind started slowly dissolving. The delirious warmth of the previous night had completely evaporated and the luxurious room stood now silent and empty, almost inhospitable. The only cacophony stirring the deadly atmosphere was the oversexed redhead casting lascivious glances towards him.

Kal El sat up , his expression gradually gaining back its coldness and austerity.

"Where are Lex and Lana?"

Maxima's middle finger provocatively wiped the remaining drops of his semen from the corner of her mouth, before cracking a satisfied grin at him.

"No one was here when i sneaked in...probably they left hours ago, at dawn, for the crypts." she shrugged , letting the right strap of her dress slide down her porcelain shoulder.

Without a single word, Kal El left the satin sheets, with Maxima's hungry eyes devouring his naked , firm ass as he stood up. Indifferent to her fervor, he pulled up his black jeans and flexed his back muscles, before reaching for the rest of his discarded clothes. His moves stilled for a minute, as two roaming arms slowly encircled his upper torso. He felt Maxima's tongue trailing wet patterns from his left shoulder blade to his earlobe , before her fangs started grazing his flesh. Tasting him. Provoking him to respond.

"Why leaving so hurriedly , my lord?" her whisper tickled the shell of his ear "Stay here with me. I heard they brought new virgins in the dungeons..."

Unlocking her arms from his body, Kal El turned around to face her. Lifting his hand, he gently caressed her cheek and she immediately leaned in to his tender touch.

"And that is all they shall remain, Maxima, until the Baptism. Virgins in the dungeons, so don't sharpen your claws yet." His bleak voice greeted her, shredding down to pieces any wicked plans she had for the night. He casually got past her. "Now i have some business to take care of"

Maxima's excitement was trashed on the marble ground , as she watched him dumping her behind and nonchalantly heading for the gilded door.

"Where you think you are going, my lord? The sun hasn't set yet.."

Her question though lingered there unanswered, echoing in the long corridor, as he silently walked his way through its darkness.

______________

A thin line formed between her brows, betraying her untrammeled focused expression. She had been looking through the photos from the crime scene for the past hours, sighing every so often before the mountain of questions rearing over her desk. She had a white paper in front of her in order to keep notes, however, after hours of muddling eveything up than actually getting anywhere, her hand had drifted away from her command and was now mechanically drawing the Planet's globe , along with every other randomness that her conscious self would definitely disapprove of. She had almost spaced out completely , disengaging herself from her surroundings, as if her desk was the only furniture in her still pretty much dusty flat, when a sudden knock on the door dragged her violently out of her brainwork.

Lois glanced puzzled at the Guinness bar clock on her wall. It was still twenty minutes before eight ; Jimmy had come early.

"Well, when i had asked you to not be late, i didn't have exactly that in mind, how come you..."

Her inquiry was cut midway, her feisty self withheld by the unexpected, the moment the door opened. A pair of emerald orbs instantly dominated her view, trapping and holding her gaze. Tall, well-defined and enigmatic, the young man speechlessly stood before her emanating mystery. From his black jeans to his dark turtleneck shirt, he was clad in the sweetest melancholy she had ever laid eyes upon. A grey check cashmere scarf , loosely wrapped around his neck, was the only note interrupting the dim symphony engulfing him. His hair was lightly tussled, raven locks framing his gorgeous face , while a pair of glasses completed his mysterious and poetic look. The dusk had brought an Adonis to her doorstep.

Lois gulped.

Seconds that felt like ages lingered moment the door opened, the same alluring scent overpowered him and for a single instant, the original reason he had come all the way to her apartment, held no more meaning. Temptation was mercilessly electrifying logic. Kal had to mentally kick himself back to his senses.

"Hi...uhm...I am interested in the apartment that is up for rent in this building. Is that it?" Lois continued staring startled at him , so he lifted up the newspaper he was holding open at the page with the Small Ads, adopting a nervous look "hm..You know...I just saw it advertised here and it says i should contact Lois Lane. Are you the owner..or.."

"No" she blurted out "I mean...yes."

Kal El frowned at her amused.

"Ok, so , help me out here, is that a 'no' or a 'yes' ?"

"Smooth one, Lois." She grinned awkwardly.

"Sorry, I mean...yes I am Lois Lane, but no this apartment is not for rent. Not anymore at least."

"Oh..But the newspaper.."

"You have all the right to wonder about it, cause i returned recently and decided to keep the place...Taking the ad off the newspapers was my next step, but i guess you were quicker than i was. I am really sorry for the trouble."

She attempted another smile , but this time Kal flashed her one of his own dazzling ones. Lois mused that her world could not possibly get any dizzier.

"I understand, it's just not my lucky day. You think i could use your phone for a minute?" She blinked at his request and he rushed to explain "I came to Metropolis to continue my studies, and I have been seeing flats the whole day...My cellphone ran out of battery."

"Oh..well, here's the thing...I am still trying to settle here, and i haven't brought all my stuff yet or connected the phone device."

Kal El grunted he should have just barged in while she was had never expected it to be so difficult to get into her apartment.

"But...You can make your call using my cellphone, if you want."

Or maybe it wasn't _that_ difficult, after all.

Suppressing the cocky smile that threatened to beam on his lips, Kal masked his satisfaction with an air of gratefulness. "Thanks, I appreciate it."

Entering Lois' apartment proved itself an ordeal he wasn't prepared to bare. For if her feminine aroma had secretively enchanted the air in the hall, inside her flat , it was reigning in all its glory. And the fact the first one to welcome him in was an exotic, leopard print bra draped over an arm chair, wasn't easing the pressure forming in both his groin and mind at all.

"It's a bit messy ahead, so brace your heart and shield your eyes..." she joked, until her gaze followed the invisible line connecting his eyes with her precious undergarment. Lois' cheeks flared up and she quickly sneaked past him, hiding the object of his sudden desire away from his sight.

Kal El quirked an eye brow at her, visibly entertained by her reaction. Meeting his face, she threw back her hair trying to appear nonchalant.

"Well , that's what you get when you try to tide up."

"Hey, your flat, your rule."

"Yeah...."

"Yeah."

Silence sank in between them, as her hazels roamed on his shirt, images of the obvious sculpted chest beneath infecting her either way vivid imagination. Kal had to actually clear his throat in order to break the spell thrust upon them.

"Right...phone." She came back in a second , handing him her cellphone. Kal nodded , more thankful that her brief vanishing had allowed him a second to breathe, rather than she brought him the mobile. Turning his back slightly at her, he formed a fake number, allowing the imaginary call to last enough in order to give him the perfect alibi.

"No luck." his pursed his lips disappointed "No one's answering, although i know they are there."

"Maybe you can give it a second try in five minutes then."

"Yes maybe..." he trailed off...."By the way, what happened to my manners...My name's Clark Kent."

"Lois Lane...but, you already know that , since you came all the way to my door..._lucky me_" Lois made sure her last two words stayed prisoned deep in the maze of her mind, before shaking his extended hand. This simple touch though was enough to ignite a new series of shivers through her body, awaking the wanton woman inside her. Fortunately for her sanity, the hand shaking ended up quickly and awkwardly, and if she wasn't too busy questioning her reaction to this stranger, she would have realized that this sudden sting of scorpion , had been felt by both.

"So... Clark, what can i offer you, while waiting?"

Kal's eyes widen slightly, and the air was enough electrified already for Lois to catch on the double meaning of her suggestion. She let a short laugh and looked him straight in the eyes."

"Of course , what i had in mind , smelled more like a nice cup of coffee..."

"I don't drink..._coffee_."

The hint of huskiness in his voice captivated her logic and Lois felt the world whirling for the second time that evening. His magnetism was irresistible, almost dangerous, and was her mind tricking her, or his eyes had indeed strayed away from her own, finding their way to her lips? Instinctively, she took a step back. Another idea would have been to just lean in....which automatically ruled itself out of her options.

"Well i have also cold beers in the fridge, if you happen to be a fan of the blond ones."

Shaking mentally himself out of his lustful haze, Kal El decided to play along. Besides, it was the only way to serve the purpose for which he was there. "Yes, a beer would be fine. Thanks."

Glad to break their eye contact for a few moments, Lois turned her back at him without hesitation. His azure followed her all the way to her small kitchen, his tongue taking a second to dart out and wet his upper lip. Oh, the possibilities he was letting slip his claws that night... Once again becoming the absolute lord of his urges, Kal turned his cold, stern gaze away and started scanning the living room. Approaching the shelves , he silently fumbled a bit around, without though discovering anything to satisfy his interest. And then Lois' desk called for his face slightly darkened at the sight of the scattered photos; this girl had already dug far enough for his taste.

Kal El's closeness to the temple of her brainwork, alerted Lois, as she was returning to the small living room with a bottle of beer in each hand.

"Those aren't exactly the best food for a student's eyes."

She placed the beers on her desk and started gathering the photos.

"You might be surprised what my eyes can savor..." he smiled wickedly at her. It always worked. Always.

"Interesting, but unless you study criminology, i think you can do without them."

Well...almost always.

"I'm sorry, it wasn't my intention to mess with your work.." he offered and was glad to see that Lois welcomed his explanation with a smile.

"It's ok, Clark , no worries. I am a reporter and this is one of the charmless aspects of the job, i guess. Just another murder, one of the many taking place in this big hole.

So she was downgrading the importance of the crime. Kal El had just started realizing he had underestimated her. A feeling that grew way more intense, as soon as his gaze froze above a specific photo.

_"Veritatem quaere et insaniam inveni...How could you have missed this, Kal El?"_

Sensing the faint change of his demeanor, Lois followed his steady gaze as it rested on a picture Jimmy had taken from the crime scene. The one with the close up on what she had been calling "the moment of her embarrassment." Lois frowned at him perplexed.

"It's..."

"Latin."

Her eyes widened "You know what the phrase means, don't you?" She didn't realize she was almost holding her breath.

"Yes..I do."

Lois eyed him suspiciously. Underneath all this mesmerizing magnetism he radiated, there was this twinkle dancing at the corner of his eyes, this hint of feeling that something wasn't what it seemed to be. However, Kal turned his attention back to her and smiled softly.

"I am studying Classical Literature, Latin happens to be my major."

"Oh..." she nodded, mentally chewing on the thought. "So, what does it mean then?"

"It means...'Seek the truth and find madness'"

"Seek the truth and find madness..." she pensively repeated "Well, one thing is sure, the guy that is buried there, had a weird sense of humor."

"I have to go now." he blurted out.

Lois had to actually restrain herself from protesting to the idea. His sudden words, shook her out of the reverie she had been swaying for the past thirty minutes. Having a beer inside her flat with a man she barely knew....What was she thinking anyway?

"And the call?"

"It's late" Kal's stern tone didn't leave space for a rewind.

Lois escorted him to the door, her mind searching through the pieces of puzzle his presence had unreeled through her microcosm. "So...it was cool to meet you...good luck with being on a roll next time and finding a suitable flat."

"The pleasure has been all mine, Lois." The sound of her name escaped his lips for the first time. In the warmth of his husky voice, her name was colored with a whole other meaning...almost out of that world..almost eerie. "Who knows...we might meet again. This city is overflowed with possibilities...."

Lois didn't wait to see him walking down the floor's hall. She could still hear the echo of his words drumming through the rooms, as she closed the door behind her. She closed her eyes, replaying their brief moments when a knock on the door surprised her for the second time that evening. She almost swang the door open, childish eagerness she had no time to reason and explain coloring her features, only to find Jimmy's smiling face staring back at her.

"Well here I am, ran up the stairs as fast as i could...ready to follow you and get arrested."

Instantly, excitement was erased from her face.

"Hey...don't get all moody now on me, i mean..I only delayed ten minutes, didn't I?"

"Jeez , Jimmy...everything is fine. I'll just go get my jacket, and we are ready to go."

"Take an umbrella with you too, i think the night is threatening us with rain..."

Lois returned in less than three minutes, invigorated by the thrill of the adventure about to begin, her system ready for some action.

"Hey, did you have company?"

She glanced at the beers Jimmy was pointing at, before she closed and locked the door.

"Yes..." she sounded nonchalant.."the brunette that was going down the stairs, he was looking to rent my flat and.."

"Lois..." Jimmy cut in " What brunette going down the stairs?"

She rolled her eyes..."Tall, glasses, 'i-play-the-guitar-and-read-poetry-beneath-the-stars' type of guy...you surely stumbled on him at the stairs.."

"Uhm..no i didn't. There was no one coming down Lois."

"I guess he took the elevator then...funny, cause i thought he had headed for the stairs.." she shrugged.

"The elevator? The one that seems to be out of order?"

Lois frowned, her focus traveling for the first time down the hall, to the dim, lifeless elevator soaring at its end. The sign with the red letters "OUT OF ORDER" was visible enough for her to doubt it.

"It was fine in the morning.." she whispered.

"Yes but exactly how many hours you spent indoors today, Lois? Above the photos, I suppose..."

"Anyway, Jimmy, we have no time to talk about me now. We wasted enough time talking in the hall, let's get going." She urged him to move on and descend the stairs, unable though to escape the shiver running down her spine, as she took a last glance at the crimson sign.

______________

Driving and untamed, the rain kept smacking every corner of the city, as the night expanded.

The boots were splashing through the muddy ground, the storm having turned the valley of the dead into an endless swamp. Soon, a thunder tore the ominous sky, for a second illuming the wild cataclysm and reveling the two dark figures rising above one single grave.

"This is what I wanted you to see."

Alexander squatted before the grim stone, his leather gloved hand slowly tracing the graven letters.

"Yes...one of us was definitely here. I can still smell his presence lingering"

A second thunder boomed with all its might and the prophetic bedlam roared violently, intensifying itself by the minute. Indifferent to the rain, Alexander stood up.

"So, what do you think?"

"A Latin quote under a Jewish name? The phrase was not on this grave, it never had been. It was carved recently." Kal's exact thoughts shaped into words through Alexander's voice."There's no doubt; the killer wants us to find him."


	6. Chapter 5

**5**

_"Sometimes I think I understand everything. Then I regain consciousness"_

_~ Ray Bradbury_

____________________

Vision was obscured by the tumult of raindrops slapping their faces, driven by the blustering winds. Their hearts had broken free from their bodies, and were now running in front of them, pounding uncontrollably under the rush of the chase. It should have ended the moment they climbed and jumped over the fence in that back alley, but their legs had grown wings as they continued sprinting through the dim, storm-struck streets. Turning right at the end of a slippery road, they paused, allowing their backs to hit the cold bricks while their souls danced wildly, striving to push past their lips.

"Lois, wait...please...just a minute to..to catch my breath."

Jimmy placed his hands on his knees, slightly bending them while inhaling deeply. Lois leaned against the wall beside him, her own breaths stressed and erratic.

"Remind me...remind me again why we didn't take my car?"

"Because it would raise...raise suspicions if anyone...saw it."

"Of course I should have...imagined that instead of...instead of worrying about them seeing the car, I should have worried about them seeing you!"

"What do you mean, it's not my fault..." Jimmy cast a brief glance beyond the wall of the building , back to the dark silence of the road behind them, making sure no one had managed to follow them and lowered his voice "...it's not my fault if we ended up here. I was busy getting shots of the necropsy, remember?"

Lois rolled her eyes "Right...and it was me, I guess, who insisted on following down the right and not the left corridor...which brought us almost face to face with the guards!"

"Hey, hold on a second. And what were _you_ been doing since I obviously had everything messed up? Why you weren't checking which was the right way out?"

Lois turned to face him, dominantly placing her hands on her hips. The nocturnal bedlam gustily smiting down on her female frame, little did interest her.

"So now you are going to put the blame on me? You should be thankful I noticed the damn flashlight on the walls in the first place, or else we would have been behind bars by now."

"Come on, Lois...you noticed the light, just like the light noticed you back..and here we are now, jumping fences and running away like criminals."

"Oh you must be kidding, it was you the one they saw, or shall i remind you the whole freak out scene you improvised back there? You kinda gave us away..."

"Me? How could they have seen me when I was right behind you?!"

"Then why you started panicking and bolted away, Olsen? Cause you thought it might be fun getting your adrenaline high?"

"Cause you said something about the freaking lights and I thought we were gonna be caught like mice, i never saw anyone chasing us....wait, you mean you only started running cause I did?"

Lois shut her eyes for a moment, her fingers trying to soothe away the pressure building on her temples.

"Please Jimmy...tell me we weren't running like maniacs in the middle of a storm without a single soul _ever_ having come after us..."

Jimmy chewed nervously on his bottom lip..."Well...look at it from the bright side...we still got everything you wanted, plus you won't spend the second night in a row with Malone over you head." He immediately earned Lois' baleful glance.

"Watch it, Olsen..."

He shook his head and turned his attention to the dismal sky still raging unsatisfied above their heads. "Are we gonna keep discussing this here and catch a nice pneumonia or..."

"No." Lois grabbed him fron his jacket and dragged him away from the cold wall, towards the street unfolding before them. A faint light had just emerged from its boisterous dimness, gleaming almost deviantly as it intruded the stormy scenery. "We are getting a taxi and heading to the Daily Planet. There's always someone there , working up late and I need the necropsy printed tonight."

Having no reason to oppose to the new direction her master-plan had just taken, Jimmy stopped the cub and rushed to get in, thankful that he would spend a few minutes without being constantly rain-smacked. He turned his face towards the window, only to see Lois standing still under the midnight avalanche. She was staring blankly back at the misty alley, as if something had caught her complete attention. A shiver stunned her body , a shiver that had nothing to do with the ominous forces of nature screaming all around her. There was someone...or something in the shadows...a melody piercing through the hollering downpour , reaching her ears...maybe not a melody, but a whistle...A whistle sounding so familiar and, at the same time, so blood-curdling.

"Lois, are you coming?"

Jimmy's voice tore down her trance and whisked away the shadows embracing her mind. She tried to hark the darkness once more, but she was greeted only by the bawl of the winds. Lulling herself that it had been just her midnight-ignited imagination, she silently got into the car.

Ten minutes later, the Daily Planet was imposingly rearing over their giant globe was overmastering the stormy chaos, continuing its perpetual motion and emerging brighter than ever as the perfect contrast to a murky, impure city. Entering her familiar haunts in the middle of an uproarious night, was not how Lois had originally imagined her return to the famous newspaper. Yet, despite its poorly lighted interior, its empty news rooms and its lifeless, intact desks, that old feeling of intimacy still crept inside her heart, stroking it with its warmth. It was the moment she found her usual way down to the basement, that Lois realized how strongly she had been craving for what she had so hastily given away; the life pulsating inside the Daily Planet....the only life she knew.

Passing through the various desks, her step faltered before a single one. No matter the piled papers on it that her fingers had never touched, or the young face, in the framed picture smiling back at her, that she never knew, the sentiments flooding her heart the moment she laid eyes upon it were unmistakable. Her soft hand reached hesitantly to trail a slow path on the desk's shiny surface, sensing the memories vibrating through its old wood and into her skin. She would recognize its familiar sensation at any given place, at any given time. It felt as if her whole world had paused for a long break, and now was being triggered back to life, as if nothing had changed. But where she had vanished during that break? Where she had been fluttering one whole year?

"Let's see now..."

Oblivious to her emotional journey, Jimmy had already transferred to his laptop the shots they had taken in the morgue and was getting ready to print out the necropsy. Leaning over his shoulder, Lois concentrated on the screen while her partner in crime was scrolling down the pages, zooming in on the plethora of information found.

"_Justine Nickoles , thirty-one years old, working the last four years as a nurse in Metropolis General Hospital_....unidentified body my ass."

"And there's even more. Take a look at the findings, Lois."

"_A cut throat...clean incision from left to the right_..."

"Like in suicides..."

"Which pretty much means that either our friend Justine here was a whacked person , slicing her self first and after that, committing suicide or...that simply the murderer was standing right behind her and thus the cut in her throat resembles the one of a suicidal origin."

"Exactly, keep reading."

"_Nickoles' thorax and abdomen suffered extensive stab wounds_....Stab wounds?!" Lois exclaimed, irritation written all over her face, "Are they for real? Both you and me took a good look at the evidence, there's no way those messed wounds to have been caused by a knife ...or any other sharp object for the matter. And there isn't the slightest mention about the bites!"

"The whole autopsy looks like a carefully arranged set up" Jimmy sighed disappointed.

"Right now, my suspicions that there is a connection between this case here and the Claiborne murder , are getting more and more. Daily Planet keeps all the files of past cases, there must be photos archived that haven't been released in the Press. Can you find them?"

"Actually no, Lois, there isn't any other photo of the Claiborne crime in the whole building, except the one that came out with the article. I did my search for days, since i wasn't the one covering the case."

"That's odd. I have photos of the crime in my laptop, sent to me by my source. I thought she had got them from the unreleased ones always kept here, considering their brutality." she pursed her lips thoughtfully.

"A she..?"

Lois rolled her eyes at Jimmy "Yes, yes, old friend that often cooperates with the Planet and has good connections into MPD , don't ask me to give any names, cause I am not planning to...I guess she found them within the files the police keeps then."

Jimmy ran pensively his palm over his mouth. "So, why you think what we have here is a serial killer? That student's boyfriend had confessed the whole thing."

"In a short period of time, we have two victims..both females..both found with their throats hanging open, while the rest of their body had also been callously abused. I haven't checked for bites, but i won't be surprised if the young girl's body is also covered with bloody, toothy marks. And most importantly, all this silence around both cases and the tries by the police, the Press and now the hospital too to bury them as deep as possible, make it blatantly obvious that something bigger unreels behind the spotlight."

"However, the Claiborne crime hadn't been concealed as much by the media. Although the investigation wasn't thorough, the article was indeed published in the Daily Planet."

"Exactly! Cause right then came the perfect solution; her boyfriend confessed. What a better gift handed to MPD and the Daily Planet in order to stifle the scandal? Believe me, Jimmy, i have seen the photos...that student had been as much butchered up, heck even a big part of her skin was missing around some weird tattoo she had on the small of her back."

The young photographer shuddered at the morbid image forming inside his head. "I will need those photos, Lois. Maybe i can analyze them, see if we are missing anything..."

Lois nodded , revealing her agreement with a satisfied smirk. "I will be looking into the Claiborne case more, maybe starting by visiting the college first. Besides, she was found there. With everyone against us Jimmy, i won't hide it...this time we are getting into deep waters."

"And as sure as hell I am in for the dive" Jimmy winked, before starting gathering his stuff. The late hour was inviting them to call it a night and it wouldn't cause any harm to try and do some research under the warm daylight for a change.

____________

"Tess..."

"Lana..."

Both names were trailed off with venom, as the taller woman cast a disdainful glance at the exotic brunette, who, with her turn, greeted Tess with a snarky grin. Brushing past Lana's bronze shoulder, the green eyed beauty with the chic, office clothes and the stern look, walked up to Alexander's desk. Comfortably sitting on his black leather, executive lounger, the ruthless vampire was lazily stroking the smooth and silky fur of Nefertiti , the white Bengal tiger , his faithful guardian and companion. The royal beast was curled up around his legs, enjoying her master's affections. However, the moment Tess invaded its acute, predatory vision, the alerted tiger let a hostile roar linger in the room as she revealed her sharp teeth.

"They say that animals can smell their enemies..." Lana's gleeful chuckle fondled the suddenly electrified air.

"Really? Then how come you are still here?"

Lying on an ancient Roman sofa near a blazing fire place in Gothic style, Lucas put aside the succulent grapes he was tasting and let out a sarcastic laughter. "Catfights...don't you just love them, _brother_?"

"Swallow your sarcasm and eat your fruit, Lucas."

Lucas' mirth instantly washed away from his face, as his vampire eyes gleamed a deeper red at Lana's audacity. "You have such a nerve if you think that your pretty little mouth can talk to me like that, only cause you happen to fuck half the clan."

"Enough!" Alexander's deep voice that left no room for objections, echoed around the hall. Smiling at Nefertiti, he grace her with a last tender caress and stood up. "If I had wanted a playroom for you kids to test your claws, I would have built one....Now Tess..." he turned his full attention to the woman still standing before him "..show me what you have."

Responding to his order, Tess placed a pack of papers on Alexander's desk.

"These are all the lists you asked for, Lex. I went through them twice, all the Newborns of the last two months are archived, no one seems to be missing."

Alexander studied carefully the papers in front of him , the calmness of his face remaining unruffled.

"But the extensive , irregular wounds, the random bites, the loss of too much blood...All these indicate the interference of a Newborn...We don't have him in our lists, cause we weren't aware of his existence, and he didn't know where to find us." Lana suggested.

"The killer knows very well where to find us..." A husky whisper emerged from a darkened corner, spreading its mystery around. Remaining silent and cloaked by the shadows all this time, Kal El leaned against a wall and crossed his arms on his broad chest. "We paid a visit to the Cemetery earlier tonight, Lex and me. Whoever killed the human, made sure to carve a Latin quote on a grave near the dead body. He chose a random tombstone of some forgotten guy that hit the ground decades ago, instead of the angel statue, cause he didn't want anyone else but us to notice the anomaly...."

"What was the quote saying?"

"Seek the truth and find madness."

"Seek the truth what?" Lucas voiced himself again, sounding perplexed..."What kind of Newborn goes around carving shit like this?"

With his face still half hidden, Kal El flashed a wicked grin , the endless dark surrounding him gifting his aura with a preternatural shine. "_No_ kind of Newborn..."

"Or maybe a Newborn led by an elder." Lana fixed her gaze on him, showily running her tongue across her upper lip. "Have you got your toys counted, Lucas? Anyone you forgot to report?" she arrogantly addressed to the young dandy, without though averting her eyes from Kal's evil grin.

"Shall I remind you that i am not the one crawling around the alleys and picking boys for fun?" he protested with his turn, anger coloring his features.

"Well i don't know, Lucas." Kal cut in, "so far the victims seem to be girls..."

"And how that has ever been an obstacle to either of you?" he sneered at both, while Kal and Lana exchanged looks amused.

"Or maybe we are facing more than one Newborns..." Alexander finally spoke, and his cynical remark froze the borrowed blood within the cadaverous veins of the vampires around him. Suddenly, the possibility of an army of Newborns forming against them, manically craving for violence and flesh beyond any boundaries , loomed ominously within their minds for the first time. It was Tess the one that after several minutes, dared to interrupt the deadly silence.

"Lex, do you need me for anything else? As you know i have to be in the Daily Planet early in the morning."

Alexander let his eyes provocatively travel up and down her impressive frame, before shaking negatively his head. "No, you may leave. And keep everything under control, the media should not interfere with our affairs."

"You don't even have to ask for that." her eyes sparkled with nothing more than pride for herself and worship for the man before her... "This case _does not _exist for this world."

As soon as the door closed behind Tess, Lucas' derisive chuckle filled the room. "And i was wondering when we would get rid of her sickening human smell."

"Well, that human with her sickening smell, has been far more capable than both you and your goons will ever be, Lucas, so don't sweat over it." Alexander smirked at him , evoking Lana's laughter. Casting a contemptuous glance at Lucas, she allowed her long, black nails to graze the lustrous desk, releasing a strident sound that could make any mortal soul shiver.

Standing up, Lucas approached Alexander, placing a comforting hand on his leather clad shoulder and allowing his lips to curl up into a sardonic smirk. "You know, I am worrying about you, brother...You have what...a disgusting human puppet, a twisted harridan and a male bitch ruling your life...I won't be surprised if there are vampires out there digging a hole for you already." He paused for a moment , pretending he was listening to the air..."Is that the creaky sound of your throne I hear?"

Taking a second to pat his older brother's back, Lucas walked away, whistling amused.

Alexander's blues remained narrowed at the open door, the one his brother didn't bother to close. "Why do you think he dislikes you so much?"

"Perhaps cause we chose _you_..." The sound of Kal's warm voice was joined by Lana's sincere smile towards the man she had learned to cherish; her husband. Alexander chuckled and walked towards the exit , his movement stirring Nefertiti from her cosiness. The tiger didn't delay one bit in following her master.

"I have something to take care of....Kal, walk down with me?"

With the animal pretentiously leading the way, grunting at any pair of eyes being more curious than necessary, Alexander and Kal passed through the numerous vampires that were filling the corridors and rooms of the imperial mansion. Concupiscent male and female faces were greeting them, secretly asking to be devoured by their divine touch. Neither the tiger's nasty looks, nor their own austere ones though were granting permission for the wild fantasies to unfold , hence, in the end, everyone was rushing to sidestep and open the way for them.

Soon, the dim and mouldy scenery of the dungeons welcomed them. The air was humid, and the damp soil was emanating the smell of abstract beauty that had died and rotten ages ago, engraining the obscure cages. Most of them stood usually empty, but not this time. With the new moon right before the corner, the heartbreaking blub of young women reverberated in the shape of draggy echoes, through the nauseous atmosphere of several cages.

As they were walking by, one of those cages caught unexpectedly Alexander's attention. Slowing his pace, he came to a halt in front the rusty bars. His bright eyes pierced through the dimness of the prison while Kal followed his focused gaze and frowned. A lonely human soul was curled up in a dirty corner, the only spot in that damned cell that was still showered by a wan light. All around her frail frame, the shadows were expanding. Shaded figures were dancing on the walls , extending their flimsy arms to grab their prey.

*"_Circulo discedas et hinc proripias_."

(*depart from the circle and flee from here)

As if an ancient curse had suddenly fallen upon them, the shadows started dissolving before Alexander's mystic whisper. Kal El followed their disorderly retreat with his inflamed eyes, that had now adopted an alien , crystalline color, until he made sure they climbed up the walls and remained there. It wasn't long before the trembling woman felt the pain in her heart being soothed away, although she still didn't dare to lift her head and meet her saviors.

"Guard them more carefully." Alexander snarled at a man standing nearby, before both he and Kal got past him , descending to an even lower level.

The scenery changed again.

Gone were the revolting odors ...gone the tremors the abysmal dungeons evoked to their captives....A huge, steely door opened before them, revealing a vast lab, well shielded in the depths of the ground, far beneath the stately mansion. Alexander's dream of life was greeting them in all its glory.

They stood side by side, silently watching what they had both seen and admired countless times before; the constant production of the very thing that kept them alive...the cloning of blood.

"When i told my father about my dream, Kal....he laughed at me." Alexander's voice broke the stillness. The creation of blood cells was taking place within the tubes, and he was studying almost enraptured the miracle before him. "He laughed at me and told me i would become the end of my people. It was fine though...I never expected him to understand, I never wanted him to understand...it would be vain. The only reason I even announced my plans to him , was to let him know the end of his own reign was near..."

Kal lowered his gaze. Even if younger, he was there through the dark years of the past, when Lionel Luthor's hegemony was soaring above Metropolis...when human life would get easily sacrificed in the altar of the bloody hunger. He was there when the son of the beast had taken over, during the most difficult hours of the clan, evangelizing a new era for everyone...humans and vampires. He knew the story well. And everytime, a feeling deeper than sympathy for the man standing beside him was engulfing him. For the brother. For the lover. For the friend.

"And I did it, Kal..._we_ did it. The cloned blood was enough to feed everyone. No more wasted human lives, no more danger for the whole clan to trip itself and let the world know its pathetic existence. No more toying with mortals...except every new moon, after the Baptism...And it was working, until now. Until this series of murders came to kick everything we have been building on. I know what you will say...only too dead bodies hardly make it a series, right?" Alexander glanced at him, forcing himself to smile.

Kal lifted up his face and stared deeply into his friend's worried eyes. It was a rare privilege to see a Luthor flirting with worry.

"..But I am sure this won't be the end. There will be more dead out there...some of them, already are. And here I am standing and witnessing my father's ridiculous omen finally laughing back at me...the end of my people."

"Lex, we will find him...whoever he is, we _will _find him and stop him before it gets out of hand. We have almost the whole city under our command, the mortals will never suspect one single thing."

"Yeah..."

Alexander turned his attention back to the transparent tubes, letting silence encircle them once more. Watching him closely, Kal El pursed his lips.

"This isn't why you asked me to escort you down here, is it?"

The other man let a small sigh.

"Where did you go after we left the cemetery, Kal? You never came with me back to the mansion...where had you been?"

Tension translated to dozens of quivers, jolted through Kal's body, sent from the nerves of his, suddenly over-crammed with memories, mind, all the way down to the very tips of his fingers, making them curl under the pressure. His face though remained free of emotions.

"There had been a situation in a nearby club. One of our guys got a bit over the edge and hurt two bouncers...you know, thin guy messing with two bulky ones, I just had to go and make sure no questions would be asked...no answers would be given...the usual stuff."

Looking inside his emeralds, Alexander lifted his leather gloved hand, slowly trailing the outline of Kal El's full lips.

"You would never lie to me , Kal, would you?"

"Of course not, Lex...why would I?"

"Of course..." Alexander smiled , his hand finding the taller man's shoulder and squeezing it lightly. "Why would you?". His gaze drifted away from Kal's gorgeous face and lingered around the lab, meeting the perfect marriage of life and science, as far as the eye could reach.

_______________

The Claiborne College was standing peaceful, a true pearl of the wealthy suburbs, when Lois had passed through its elegant gates. After the apocalyptic deluge that had ravaged through the night, and the quiet morning rain that had tailed up, everything, from the simplest herb to the tallest building, was wet and glistened uniquely under the sun's afternoon crown. To her pleasant surprise, Lois had managed to talk to two teachers of the deceased girl , as well as be guided to the school's lockers , where the body had been discovered. And all these had been accomplished with easiness, without anyone objecting to her presence, or even questioning her much.

Two hours later, Lois started to understand why.

Sitting in front of a pc in the college's library, she had been trying to get as much information as she could about the dead student, in an attempt to shed some light around the mystery of her death. Well, the mystery of her death according to herself, cause everyone else was pretty much convinced it had been the unfortunate spin of the moment that tainted the passion of two young lovers. Thus no one had really been proved much of a help, nor the teachers, nor the crime place itself, neither the school's files she was currently staring blankly at. No wonder everyone had been so willing to accommodate her.

Elizabeth Stuart, the unlucky girl that had embraced Death before her time, was , according to everyone and everything, a fine young woman and an excellent student with high grades, and even higher ambitions. Nothing seemed to disturb the perfect routine of her life. And as for her boyfriend, a fellow student and neighbor, he appeared to be Elizabeth's mirror, only in male version. She was thinking that at least, with that little detail added to the puzzle, it was sure now the poor boy had been just the fall guy in police's fake attempts to unravel the ball of thread. But still, after two hours of research, there seemed to be nothing connecting the two dead women, nothing at least that could hint at the killer's motive.

Sighing lightly, Lois decided that she had enough of the suburban air. She started collecting her stuff , but somewhere among her haste to leave and the conspiracy theories flying around her mind, a couple of the books she had just borrowed, met accidentally the plane floor. Muttering a curse under her breath, Lois bent down to gather them , only to find a soft, larger hand reaching the books first , spontaneously coming in contact with her own.

All Lois was able to do was to slowly lift her gaze, before she was lost within an endless, green sea. The same cold pair of eyes that had so unexpectedly saturate her soul with warmth just one day ago, was once again staring longingly into her hazel depths. The familiar glasses were once again effectively shielding everything away from the world, placing those two emerald orbs behind a vitrine, like all precious gems should be. Her heart started hopping in a different rhythm, the one emanating from his fresh but mysterious scent. She was the puppet and he the puppeteer , and all she could think of was that, if she stayed like this one more second, with his eyes nailed on her and no words lingering between them, she would willingly start dancing to her puppeteer's tune.

Lois gulped.

"Clark..."

It was the sound of his name whispered by her tempting lips, that sparked the life within him again, setting the rusty wheels of his mind into motion. One more second, and he, the first son of the night, the invincible creature of the darkness, would have died out of unhoped for happiness. How cruel the world could be with him during the daylight, he wondered...

"Hey...I.." he looked down at their hands barely touching and quickly retrieved his own , as they both stood up. Putting his scattered thoughts into order, Kal cast a quick glimpse at the book he was now holding and flashed her a generous smile..."_'River of Blood: Serial Killers & Their Victims' _...unless you are a criminology student, what possible food could that be for a reporter's eyes?" He winked at her, reversing her own quote.

"I don't know, you might be surprised what my eyes can savor.." Lois immediately caught on it, gifting him with some of his own medicine, and smiled back. "Clark...Kent right? What a coincidence to find you here..."

"Well I did tell you we might meet again, didn't I?" he continued smiling broadly, making it difficult for her to concentrate. She was thankful that at least she had always been a master at covering her nervousness with her impromptu talking.

"You certainly did, i just wasn't imagining it to happen as soon as the..next day" Lois eyes sparkled.." And not to mention at the other side of this city, in this college."

"Once upon a time, I was actually a student in this college. Today i was just visiting some of my old teachers, catching up with them....until I saw you out of all people in the library. So believe me, I am as surprised as you are...maybe I just hide it better..." he trailed off his last words, lowering his voice just a tad bit, enough though to moisten Lois' core.

Allowing her eyes into the forbidden pleasure of roaming on his impressive built, Lois took in a little better his appearance. A long coat was engulfing him, with the glimpse of a gray V-shirt emerging underneath it. His raven hair was always raining before his glasses, and the hint of a crimson shade was coloring his beautiful cheeks. Only this time, there was a suspicion of tiredness, worrying his undoubtedly gorgeous face.

"So , you don't do well with colors, do you?" she joked.

" _The color of truth is gray "_

"You've read André Gide...impressive."

"Just his fiction..." For reasons he couldn't fathom, his eyes acted on their own accord, falling once again on her lips. This mouth was provoking him to taste could hear clearly the voices of temptation whispering verboten suggestions in the back of his mind. Fortunately, or unfortunately, for him, the pain that had started building up and slowly burning his insides, was still managing to distract him. He had been out in the daylight for too long...

"So.." he cleared his throat .."What brings you here in my old haunts?"

Lois bit her bottom lip for a second, chewing on the thought to tell him or not. In the end, she decided that as an old student of the college, he could turn out to be helpful. "Well...I am writing an article on impenetrable mysteries, such as murders...thus i came here to pick up some good material for my work, taken that a student was murdered not long ago."

_"Liar"_ he thought and a twinkle of mischief danced at the corner of his eyes, remaining though untraced by Lois.

"Student? You mean that girl that was found dead in the college...I think i read about it on the newspapers."

"Yes, her name was Elizabeth Stuart...Look, I know that you must be around my age, so it's not like you were classmates or anything, but did you happen to know her?"

The fever hollering inside him was growing fast and Kal struggled to suppress the need of vanishing into the shadows just in order to breathe. "No...not really...It's been a couple of years since I left this place and I didn't really know all the minors back then...But i thought that the police had caught the guy that did this, it was her boyfriend, wasn't it?"

"Well you can say that if you believe it so...I have reasons to believe that the case was purposely closed before its time" she lifted her chin proudly and pursed her lips, making Kal dive in his lustful anguish, at the same time that his physical torment threatened to hit its zenith.

"I could help...help you if..." his voice faltered and for the first time, his alabaster mask cracked , allowing Kal to release a brief grimace of pain, that only slightly mirrored the inner torture he was withstanding.

Lois frowned , worry crawling under her skin. "Hey, are you feeling alright?"

" I am fine, nothing to..." his objections though came too late to prevent her delicate hand from sneaking up its way and resting softly onto his cheek. Kal was automatically withered to the ground. Abashed, he stared deeply inside her eyes , the heat her velvet palm was radiating into his body being nothing in comparison to what he had been feeling up to then.

"Oh my God...you are burning..."

Without daring to avert his eyes, he slowly covered her hand on his cheek with his own. His touch was gentle , but it still sent a thousand sensations galloping through Lois body, injecting her every fiber with an unprecedented emotion she couldn't honestly care to define. And when his thumb started trailing faint circles on her sensitive skin, Lois gasped audibly.

"I am fine....really."

His husky whisper came to complete the vortex of thoughts and emotions both of them were surprisingly experiencing. Silently, they retrieved their hands , leaving a hint of dizziness behind to belaud their precious moment. They stayed like that for a minute, before Lois dared to crack the stillness.

"I should really be going though...uhm...want to come with me? Maybe the fresh air outside will invigorate you a bit, make you feel better."

It took all the will power Kal had, in order to not just submit to her offer and burst out with her into the reign of the afternoon sun , rushing to meet his unavoidable end. At that point, a student pulled slightly the curtains of a nearby window. Blazing and catalytic, a beam of sunlight invaded the library, raining its brightness on Lois, making her silky hair shine with a sublime golden brown shade. And he...he had no other choice than to take a step back, his gaze sadly lingering above the borderline the sunlight had created around her. A fortress that would always leave him in exile.

"It's ok , Lois. I am going to hang around here a little more, enjoying my past was nice to see you again though..."

She nodded, not permitting her face to betray her sudden disappointment. "It was nice to see you again too, Clark. Take care.." she smiled awkwardly before turning her back...walking away...

Staggering, with his chest heaving rapidly and the pain clenching his temples like vice , Kal El shoved himself into the first store room he found in the college. The place, a small hole for old books and other useless remnants, was enough dim for him to shelter his sore body until it healed itself. Thanking his luck no one had seen him, he crawled on the floor , striving hard to muffle his moans of pain into the silence. He leaned against a wall and sat there, trying to soothe away his violent quivers. In less than three hours the sun would set, and soon there would be no pain no more, he would be free. His tired azure eyes traveled up the opposite wall, where a hint of light entered the room from the small windows near the ceiling...soon there would be no pain, no more.


	7. Chapter 6

Just wanted to say a big thanks to everyone reading this story and I assure you that no, I am not gonna drop it, I will continue it till the end, as long as there are people out there reading it. Thanks again!

* * *

**6**

_"How typical of humans... _

_Your eyes are clouded so you cannot see...... _

_Even though the truth is always within you..."_

_~ Vampire Princess Miyu_

______________________

The fire was dancing on top of the cobalt blue and bronze fireplace glass crystals, illuminating the contours of the glass and creating a reflective brilliance that was mesmerizing the senses. Radiating its warmth around, the Windsor fireplace with the arched insert and the splendid marble surround, proclaiming the grandeur of the Victorian Empire, dominated imposingly the perfectly round room in the eastern turret of the mansion. Ironically enough, its faithful admirers were the only ones contemning its vital heat. For their cold bodies had long ago forsaken the warmness.

Kal El dragged his blasé gaze from the heavy , wooden carved candlesticks defining a smaller, imaginable circle around them , to the black masked female vampires wrestling bare chest before them. There was a time that he would succumb himself in that sensual dancing wrestle , but tonight his mind had kept wandering away from the mansion; Metropolis' city lights had somehow become his ultimate lure.

Occasionally though, Lana's charming laughter would penetrate through the web of his thoughts.

"Now fetch me that sapphire cushion over there..."

A young male rose slowly his head from her feet and welcomed his mistress' command with a grin. Dressed in nothing more than a pair of loose pants and a Gothic spiked collar firmly around his neck, he walked on all fours to the direction Lana had leisurely pointed. Passing through the larger cushions scattered around the floor, he had almost reached the object of her desire when the chain attached to his choker, ruthlessly halted his eagerness.

Lana let another mischievous chuckle echo in the room.

Always a faithful servant, the vampire managed to beat his painful restraints and , imitating perfectly a dog slave, he soon crawled back with his sapphire loot hanging from his sharp teeth. Adopting a sympathetic look, Lana softly caressed the man's chin before taking the cushion from him and carelessly throwing it behind the sofa she was comfortably sprawled.

"I changed my mind...I think that ruby red one will match better with the color of my nails."

"Come on Lana, give your pet a rest." Kal stretched his arms at his comfortable end. His black shirt was unbuttoned, exposing the rhythmic flexing of his chiseled stomach to the cool air. Narrowing momentarily her almond eyes at him, the exotic brunette pursed playfully her full lips.

"I think that master Kal here is a bit jealous, boy." She cast an impish smile as a new, devilish idea lighted up her mind and slightly ducked her head, mouthing soft whispers to her slave boy's ear. Kal lifted a curious eye brow at the sight of the young man suddenly approaching. He was moving slowly, much like Nefertiti when targeting her prey, and he had that familiar blaze in his depths that Kal knew well. He took a moment to brush himself against Kal's boots and then his hands started stroking their way up the handsome vampire's thighs.

Oh, she was evil.

Kal chuckled amused before stopping the young man's hands the moment they started unbuckling his belt, knowing that, all the while, Lana's hungry eyes hadn't missed a single move.

"Save your saliva, I am not in the mood for Newborns tonight."

A light pull on his chain, and the slave boy was gratefully back at the mercy of his lustful owner. Lana lifted her bronze leg, allowing the smoothness of her bare foot to stroke her servant's startled face. He instantly took the hint, and began a stimulating lick game on her toes, greedily flicking and swirling his tongue around her velvet flesh.

Kal El leaned his head back, his face meeting the glorious mirror that was covering every single inch of the round ceiling. His eyes traveled from the interlaced foliate and the gilded flower motifs at its edges, to the center of its glassy surface; there, where the reflection of a white tiger was wandering alone among candlesticks and cushions in an empty and silent room. They could fool all the mirrors in the world...all of them, but the very ones in their own shelter, which were always there to reflect life and bitterly remind them they had long ago relinquished that privilege.

Sensing a subtle disturbance in the air, he turned on his left only to see Lana making her way to him, crouching like a hyena. She placed a soft palm on his hard chest, lightly trailing her nails downwards as she cocked a suggestive eyebrow at him.

"Then what's on the menu for tonight, Kal? An elder maybe?" Without waiting for an answer, she leaned down and started planting feathery kisses all the way down the thin hairline on his belly, before it disappeared below the mystery of his pants.

"I guess the fact I might be already satiated slips your...damn Lana!" he suddenly hissed, throwing his head backwards and shutting his eyes in pure ecstasy. "I've told you many times to not do that."

Licking the bloody droplets off her lips, Lana let her fingertips caress the fresh bite just below his navel. "How can I resist when you are so delicious?"

Kal El shook his head before her stiltedly innocent pout and smiled as he watched her leaning in , his juicy lips being her only destination.

"We are missing something."

With their thirst interrupted before reaching each other's source, Kal and Lana instantly turned their fraught faces towards Alexander. He had been staring blankly at the voluptuous bodies of the two young women wrestling and groaning all along, his mind storm-tossed within a welter of schemes and fears. Occasionally, his leather gloved hand would clench his dragon head rod. It originally belonged to Lionel Luthor, an ancient heirloom, with a horrific head of a dragon and two rocks, one green, one red, serving as its lurid eyes. And for some inexplicable reason, Kal El had always hated it.

"Lex..."

"We are missing something from the first murder. There was no relation between the women, but still he...or they...left us a message in the cemetery."

"I had personally searched the place, Lex." Kal El sat up. By his side, Lana had lost any meaning of interest in him, her attention now fully drawn to her husband's worried expression. "If there was something written, anything at all, I would have noticed it."

"It is there I say...It was right before our eyes, but we could not see it. We were warned before, only we never paid attention." Alexander's pupils dilated under the weight of the trance he had dived in. Indifferent to the relaxing massage a beautiful blond was offering him, he was mentally following the monotonous repeat of the same unsettling thoughts.

"Our men can always look more into it, my love. Just say the word."

"We are only two nights before the New Moon, Lana. The whole mansion is pretty busy with preparations, and tomorrow Davis arrives with the European brotherhood. We cannot set everyone into alarm and have this damn usurper dig his claws into our affairs."

"You can always count on me, Lex, you _know_ that." Kal El looked straight into his friend's eyes , the sound of his voice suddenly stern and absolute. " If our mystery person has left another message in the Claiborne college, I will pick every damn rock until I find it."

Slowly, Lana walked up to Alexander. A single glowering glance at the blond vampire was enough for that last one to slavishly give up her ministrations, and the Luthor she was, Lana possessively placed her own hands on Alexander's broad shoulders, beginning the massage anew.

"Yes, Lex. Let Kal deal with the case while we are getting ready for the Baptism. As for Davis, I doubt he'll stay for long, it's been a while since I last saw him but I don't think he changes his habits that easily."

"A while?" Kal frowned at her. "You spent the whole summer in France, guest at his ancient shrines and you never saw him?"

Lana swallowed uneasily, but it was Alexander's calm voice that rushed to the explanation. "Davis was traveling in Asia Minor at the time, in a mystic quest few of us knew. I guess I never really told you because it was unimportant for our own business here or there. Ask him and he will deny it himself." Alexander finished nonchalantly , placing a soft kiss on his wife's hand which had briefly got stone-still on his shoulder.

Kal El nodded slowly but his gaze still remained nailed on them. There was something...he couldn't really place it, but for a second there he had felt it; a cold draft faintly running through his body...a slight anomaly in their deadly atmosphere...a brief change in the glimpses they exchanged, so indiscernible, that Kal started wondering if he had imagined it. Either way, he chose to discharge himself from even more stressful thoughts and stood up, buttoning his shirt in the process.

"Where are you going?"

"Downtown..."

"You have a reason to be downtown tonight?" Lex insisted making it hard for Kal to maintain his apathetic mien.

"No, not really...just seeking out some fun in those sties humans call clubs."

"And since when did you find spending time with pigs more entertaining than staying here with us?" Lana scorned.

"Oh aren't you the greedy one, Mrs Luthor?" he laughed, effectively turning the tables. "Since..._never_. I will come back later, till then you have an horde of male and female pets to keep your holes warm, what else do you need?" he audaciously retorted, causing Alexander's chuckle to drum in their ears. Kal El winked at both and leisurely walked out the room, leaving nothing but his manly scent lingering behind.

As soon as he left, Alexander's laughter died out abruptly. Turning his face up, he found Lana looking down at him, her eyes mirroring his own suspicions.

_____________

"Fuck, the telephone."

Lois' head emerged underneath a pile of various clothes, her disheveled hair betraying her unequal struggle. At least if she had been having wild sex, her current condition would have a point...she mused. But everything was scattered on the floor and the huge, carton boxes around weren't helping one bit in her finding the end of the string....in this particular case, the phone device she had connected just the other day and which was currently lying forgotten somewhere in the chaos of her living room.

She wasn't really_ that _bad with housekeeping. In fact, her tries in tiding up everything had been pretty descent. Well, the previous days at least. That afternoon, her rest stuff had arrived from Star City, packed in big boxes that her cousin had specially taken care of. The pressure of being a jobless reporter on the one hand, the whining of being the ex of Oliver-the playboy-Queen on the other, and Chloe Sullivan had realized that her feisty cousin would never really return to pick up any of her left belongings, unless someone kidnapped her , dragged her all the way back to her luxurious apartment and forced her - as if that was ever possible - to gather her stuff one by one. And even then, Lois' mind would most likely focus on how to get an interview from her dauntless abductor than anything else.

After recruiting every available neighbor to help her lift everything up to her apartment, Lois realized this was not going to be an easy job , especially since her spirits had been low enough the whole morning. With the unpacking of the first box, she was already wondering why she kept throwing her money on stuff she never used or clothes she hardly ever wore. At an outburst of supererogation, she had decided to open all boxes and determine combinationally where would go what. Twice the operation "Goodwife Lane" , as she mockingly called her household endeavors, had been interrupted by her astute brainstorming of theories on the murders' cases, and soon the floor of the small flat ended up flooded with every bigger or smaller detail of her life.

With this and that, the whole house shake-up seemed to be going on for ages, and its undoubted peak occurred when , overestimating her observation skills, she loaded herself with a huge pile of clothes, moving them to her bedroom altogether...until her foot unexpectedly met the fluffy body of a teddy bear, relic of a childhood she couldn't even fathom why she kept dragging along with her, and , next thing she knew, the phone was ringing and she was too damn busy saluting the floor.

"Where the heck are you, you stupid device?"

Truth was that this whole stress expanded way beyond her afternoon adventures. After four days of continuous research, ever since her visit at the Claiborne College, she was facing a wall with the phrase "Dead end" painted fadelessly on its bricks. Every possible scenario she and Jimmy had come up with, had eventually led them in vicious circles. Three times she had found herself on the verge of calling Chloe and three times she had withheld herself while forming the blond's number, because the General's voice was hollering from some dusty corner of her mind to stop being the weakest link all over again. However her nerves kept treading on a thin line, and in the end, the young photographer had become their only recipient , the moment he had called that morning to inform her he wouldn't stop by due to tons of work at the Daily Planet. In retrospect, it was finally obvious to her that it wasn't Jimmy's fault if he still had a life while her own was currently scattered before her on the cold floor. But this realization was doing a poor job in cooling off her emotional strain and every little buzz around had started hassling her microcosm beyond imagination. Like the nagging ring of her phone that moment.

"Shit, can you just shut up for a second, I will find you!" she complained to no one while crawling and rummaging through her things. However, it looked like the phone had decided to comply with her wishes and its annoying sound chose to gave its place to the answering machine, the exact moment she was discovering it under a set of sleeping pillows.

_"It's me Lois..."_

And suddenly, even Hell froze.

_"I guess you are not home...or, if my unanswered calls to your cellphone are any indication, maybe you are there right now and just not picking it up....It's ok, I mean...I understand you don't want to talk to me ....yet, I hope....And it's alright, really...it's alright, I don't expect you to suddenly forget everything and come back to me with open arms...my call has nothing to do with us really, it just has to do with...well, you....I am worrying about you Lois, even if you don't believe so...if you don't want as a man, then as a friend. You mean a lot to me, you always did, you always will...And I guess what I am trying to say is that I have been sitting on burning coal ever since you disappeared in the middle of the night. I know you want your career in the Planet back, and I wholeheartedly want you to get it, but please...don't outdo yourself in the process...And anything you might need, you know, to help you settle, you know where to find me...Well, this message will end soon and I guess..you won't pick it up, so...I know you probably curse at me right now, and you are right, whatever you say...just ...just take care."_

In the middle of her life's remnants, Lois was left rigid , staring blankly at her empty hands. Time seemed to have slowed down on purpose and everything around her gradually adopted a darker shade, as if the countless lights of a theater were fading the one after the other, leaving her alone under the spotlight , ready for her soliloquy of misery. Fate had just found her writhing body and had taken at her its final, best shot. God had humor that day.

She stayed like that, motionless and hollow for a while, until she felt rage filling the void inside her and tears welling up her eyes.

"Go sell your lies to Dinah, you asshole!" she cried out, tossing towards the phone device a cup, that was unlucky enough to be in front her within that mess. See watched silently , as if in slow motion, the fine porcelain missing its target and violently getting shattered on the floor. The route she had followed would get her nowhere. How could she possibly find all the pieces in those mystery puzzles she was dealing with, if she couldn't even collect the pieces of herself first?

She needed air. All these tears and cliché drama just weren't her style. Her day had been distressful enough so far, she wouldn't spend the night now too among four walls, whimpering over just a blond guy who was trying to settle his childhood issues by playing with arrows. She needed fresh air and she needed it now. And if it was escorted by a good amount of booze, she certainly wouldn't say "no".

Thirty minutes later, Lois Lane was getting a seat before the counter of an Irish bar, only two blocks away from her flat. The night sky outside was ready to put on its rainy costume, but that didn't dishearten her at all. If anything, the chill was both invigorating her and making her appreciate more the cosiness inside the bar. She watched as the bartender putt off his cigarette, before coming her way and the sudden need to get back to her old habits drilled through her will power more than ever.

"What should I get you, babe?"

"A Guinness, and fire for the cigarette you are gonna offer me."

"Straight and forward, I like it" the man winked , opening his Marlboro packet to her, before fetching her the precious stout. Lois grinned and put a cigarette between her lips, when...

"Don't you pity your lungs at all?"

...she was rudely interrupted and... the familiar velvet voice... the same mesmerizing emerald gems... the boyish cheeks engulfing the most dazzling smile she had ever set eyes upon...the tempting college look, completed by a white, turtleneck sweater this time...the sophisticated glasses...the unruly , raven hair...and.....and what the heck was _he_ doing there?

Swallowing her original shock, Lois smiled and shamelessly sized him up and down.

"If that line could work on me, I suppose I would have already followed it, don't you think?"

"Perhaps...or perhaps you just needed to hear it from the right lips."

Kal's saucy remark unavoidably caused her eyes to fall on his inviting mouth. Those succulent , massive lips would surely be the death of her.

"And what makes you think yours are the right ones?" she lightly cleared her throat.

"People call it 'hunch'....you are a reporter, you know about such stuff." he winked at her and took a generous sip from his own beer. Even the sight of him gulping down his lager was too sexy for her eyes to witness, and Lois rushed to put the cigarette back in her mouth and light it up, just to keep herself from turning to a wildcat and attacking him right then and there.

"It's a shame really, to start it all over again when you had quited" he shrugged but still cast a brief glance at her, smiling inwardly.

"What?" for the second time Lois dropped the cigarette off her mouth and remained dumbfounded.."How do you..."

"...know about it? Easy guess, Mrs Lane. I 've been in your apartment , a regular smoker would have at least one ashtray around...and for some reason, you don't look like the type of girl to make the floor her ash pot."

"You're quite the observant, aren't you, Mr Kent?" she teased, trying to hide her marvel at him.

"Among _other_ things..." His husky voice made Lois instinctively bite down her lower cherry lip, a tantalizing motion that his fevered eyes boldly followed all the way. He hadn't mistaken, she was frisky tonight.

Cocking an eyebrow at his brassiness, Lois toyed the cigarette between her fingers. "This bar is teeming with smoke, in the way I see it we are both already passive smokers. Why do you want me so much to drop that cigarette?"

"So, does that mean it matters what _I_ _want _?" Kal turned fully towards her, his green orbs piercing through her with their intensity, reaching her bare soul and setting it on fire. Lois gasped. This full of innuendos game was too much and too out of the blue for her to handle it. She had underestimated that college boy and now time was calling her to change tactics.

"You know what.." she finally said , cutting the cigarette in two with a simple motion of her fingers.." I am not gonna smoke tonight...only cause you managed to interrupt me twice, preventing me from lighting this cigarette up. No man has ever done that before, so I give you that." Lois admitted and flashed him an enchanting smile.

Kal mirrored her expression, gracing her with a playful and genial grin. "Well, I fulfilled my good Samaritan's action for the night, I guess it's time for me to leave."

His joke evoked her artless laughter and Kal couldn't help but worship the way her face was instantly brightened up, putting to shame even the most glorious light. Lois' mirth was still making her hazels glow, even when her laughter faded, and they spent a second that could be mistaken for ages, just drowning in each other's gaze.

"So Clark...they say third time's the charm.." she paused to taste her beer, " and truth is we keep bumping on each other quite a lot, don't you think?"

"Maybe it's fate.." he kidded

"Cute, but I never believed in fates, destinies and the like. We carve our own path in the world, we guide our lives wherever we decide."

"Then, you have considered me your stalker?"

"You said you are a lot of things, your words, not mine." It was very subtle, but the sexual provocation was there; in the way she was trailing off her last words every time..in the way she was deviously glancing at him while sipping her drink... and all this untold flirtation was urging him to act like his college facade would never dare to. He needed to tighten the reins and drop down his dark, manly confidence before it exposed him past remedy.

"I finally rented a flat a few blocks away from here, so I was out looking for a low key bar to enjoy a beer. This city is flooded with noisy night clubs."

"Tell me about it...so, we are gonna be neighbors, interesting."

"Well, I did need a nice, small flat downtown to shelter my celibacy. This was the reason I was originally interested in yours too."

"What's more interesting is that MetU is not gonna be exactly out of your door...." she pursed her lips thoughtfully.

"I would worry about that, if I was the train or bus type of guy. Luckily, I am old enough to have my own tool. Looks can be deceiving, I know." he smirked and gulped down the last drops of his beer.

Lois waved at the bartender. "So what is this college boy drinking?"

"McFarland....Guess I like them deep red and heady."

Lois wet her lips. From the corner of her eyes, she noticed the barman standing opposite to them, right behind the counter, but she never bothered to avert her gaze from the enthralling male specimen before her. "Keep the beers coming, we have a long night ahead."

Almost two hours later, Lois was starting to realize that alcohol and Clark Kent formed a lethal combination. A year of the finest champagne next to Oliver, and she already felt as if she had forgotten how to drink her favorite lager without getting tipsy. And he...oh he was a magnet. He would force her into captivity with the stunning pearls that formed his smile, then use his eloquence to free her spirits and make her feel special, only to ravish her all over again with one single azure glance upon her defenseless frame. It hadn't slipped her attention either that, despite her bad mood, the young man before her had effortlessly elicited the merrier side of herself. Between their laughter and verbal games, she would secretly spy on him running a hand through his hair, always leaving it more ruffled than before, or instinctively pushing back his glasses using his middle finger...little details that, underneath all his mysterious sexiness, revealed a tender side she could learn to adore. She couldn't help but think that her whole torment during that day worthed it, if those two careless hours of bliss were to be its conclusion.

Of course, at some point within those two hours, the original reason Lois was out drinking her night away, had unavoidably come up.

"Dump him" Kal blurted out.

"Too late, you come second and sweaty , Clark. I already did that." She gulped down her remaining beer, feeling the alcohol cooling her throat.

"No I mean like_ really _dump him, Lois. Dump every thought of him, every memory that hurts. Kick him out of your mind, just like you kicked him our of your life."

"You make it sound like it's a matter of a simple decision."

"Well, isn't? You were the one that was saying we guide our lives wherever we decide. So, guide yours away from him." he gave her an encouraging smile.

"Keep smiling like this, and you might convince me." A lonely twinkle danced in her irises but she turned quickly to the bartender , depriving Kal of its shine. "Two more beers!"

"Why do you want to get me drunk, Mrs Lane?" he teased, a sultry tone coloring his voice.

"So, does that mean it matters what _I want_?" she impishly returned his remark, letting the tip of her tongue briefly slide over her teeth. It was just an instant, but still enough to send forbidden signals all the way to Kal's crotch. Feeling his veins bursting with need, he locked his emeralds with her hazels, balancing his options.

"The pool table back left just became available...in the mood for some eight-ball?"

Lois blinked and glanced perplexed over his shoulder, towards a pool table far behind him which indeed had just been abandoned by its previous gamers.

"Uhm...do you have a pair of eyes on your back too or something?"

"I have only one pair of eyes , Lois....and it hasn't left you all night."

Once again, Lois was left thunder-struck by his sauciness, embracing the sudden stillness around them. The sexual tension would undoubtedly turn to her perpetual torture, if he kept devouring her with his intense look. There was only one way out for Lois through every awkwardness, and that was her disarming sense of humor.

"So, come on, let's get this game started already...because if we sit more here and talk about my love life, I can see the damsel in distress popping out of me and that would be borderline surreal. But hey, I'll blame the Irish!" she smartly sneaked past him, without waiting for an answer.

Kal leaned over the billiards cloth, quickly setting the rack.

"Stripes or solids?" . When he got no answer, he looked over his shoulder only to find Lois openly checking out his firm rear. "Enjoying the view?"

"I am just thinking what a pity it is that I will have to kick that in Eight-ball." she cracked a placid smile. The only way to stop getting caught off guard by his bold remarks, was to craftily provoke him first and that was a plan she was determined to stick to at all costs.

Kal arched his eyebrow, visibly amused. "You know words aren't enough, beating me requires also actions."

"Then I suggest you watch me. Stripes. And the rack's all yours to break it."

"Ladies first"

"Oh please, Clark. You just can't wait to see me leaning over the table too, can you? Don't worry, you'll get plenty of that once I start pocketing my balls. But let's see what you worth first..."

Kal chuckled , shaking his head. Chalking his cue, he concentrated and , without wasting time, he broke the rack sending already a few solid balls into their pockets. Moving to the other side of the table, he struck again , and in a rare show of virtuosity, he managed to clear the table off the solids , leaving the eight-ball at the edge of its pocket. It took only a third, light push by his cue and the first round was already history.

"Ops, looks like the game ended already..." He looked down at her , loving every second of her stupefied expression..."Sorry, Lois, you were saying?"

Swallowing down her hurt ego, Lois still succeeded in appearing nonchalant. "Better deflate your head, cause your luck won't last long...Just wait till I warm up."

Taking turns, they succumbed themselves into a merciless competition, enjoying to the maximum mainly each other's heated reactions, rather than the game itself. In reality, they had managed to translate the sexual blaze that was engulfing them, into an endless pool game which, through their personal kaleidoscopes, had adopted the shape of an erotic dance they were both too unwilling to face directly. The rounds were flying by, sealing their almost equal skills and, at the same time, declaring their inner desire to possess one another, even if that happened only on the billiards cloth. But although Kal was slightly better, life had taught Lois to burn the white flags than raise them and always take no prisoners.

With alcohol's influence her biggest ally, she stretched her arms a bit and leaned over the pool table , effectively exposing the rich valley of her breasts. At the other side of the table, Kal missed.

Lowering his head, he laughed at how easily he had fallen a fool of the oldest female trick. Slightly lifting up his gaze, he glued his eyes on hers, taking in her wanton behavior , escorted by her wide grin screaming absolute satisfaction.

"You are playing dirty, Lois."

"Really? I assumed you loved dirty gaming."

Kal was not the only horny bull in the arena though, and soon Lois' assets stimulated the appetite of more lower brains.

"Hey sugar, dump that stupid four-eyes and come lean over my table too...I keep something for you to work with, alright" a rough man barked from a nearby table , his crude manners causing his gang to burst into howls of laughter.

Kal was about to intervene, but Lois' mouth was proved more capable. "Have you ever had a cue up your ass, pal? Try being funny again and I'll make sure you'll experience the thrill."

A new series of laughters filled the bar, as Lois scored off the rude guy. Kal stared amazed at the scene that had just unreeled before him. This woman had balls and her untamed nature was scandalizing his senses on new levels. Keeping up her lofty mien, Lois had meanwhile come to his side of the table.

"I suppose it's my turn now...May I?"

Kal took a step back, allowing her all the space in the world to make her shot. However, she chose to stand right before him and, playfully bitting down her lip, she bent over the table , bringing her perfect, denim clad buttocks, an inch away Kal's tormented crotch.

Oh that was too much even for an immortal body.

Kal El stood spell-bound behind her. His mind had stopped registering whatever was taking place on the pool table and his bewildered eyes were freely roaming on Lois' tight jeans. He kept struggling against his urges , as they were shamelessly ordering him to surrender into the temptation her luscious curves had poisoned him with. His palms remained open around her ass , unwilling to give in and, at the same time, unable to withdraw and he curled his fingers in a futile attempt to shield her flesh against his own claws. It was just so unbelievably easy for him to break all rules, keep her bent and claim her body right then and there, despite the many witnesses around. It wouldn't be the first time he would satisfy his sexual cravings in front of a cheering crowd after all. If only she had the slightest idea with whom she was trying to toy.

And yet, there was this unknown part of him that, against all odds, was right now denying his inner beast its freedom. For her. For Lois Lane.

"Another ball in and Lois Lane strikes again! Go me!" Lois' triumphant cheers abruptly cut the chains of his trance. Walking away from him, she finally allowed him some space to breathe and compose himself. She was willing to continue her mind-blowing game on him, he could tell by the sparkle dancing in her eyes. But Kal El had just decided that two could take that ride.

It didn't take long for Lois to miss and Kal's turn to rise again. She turned her back at the pool table and leaned against it , patiently awaiting his move.

And he made it.

Effortlessly, he surprised her by lifting her slightly up and placing her better on the table.

"What...what do you think you're doing?"

Ignoring her question, he parted her knees and brassily stepped between them. Encircling her waist with his left arm, his hand found the cue held in his right one, and he leaned in.

"You can't possibly ... how on earth...you have no view ..." her alerted whispers came out muffled. He was just too close for her mind to build a coherent sentence.

"I have the _perfect_ view." he breathed out, keeping his eyes locked with hers. And he struck.

One by one , Lois heard the balls falling into their rightful pockets. She slightly turned her head towards the pool table, only to confirm the miracle , giving Kal the chance to shut his eyes and inhale the intoxicant aroma emanating from both her hair and neck.

"Where did you learn to play like that? Among the Latin scripts and the history books?"

"Exactly where you learned to play like that too....among the articles and the obituaries."

He nuzzled her nose with his own, searching deep inside her irises. And when Lois' only respond was to gasp, he huskily whispered again...

"Wanna get out of here?"

"Yeah....just...just let me get my jacket."

Lois slipped off the table and walked over to the bar counter to gather her stuff, trying all the while to control her beaming face so as to not explode in excitement. Kal's restless gaze tailed behind her , when his sensitive hearing picked up a rather unpleasant conversation.

_"Can you believe this shit? Chicks like that hanging around with dickheads like him."_

_"That college moron? I'll make him pee his pants in no time...then I can take care of that bitch and her big mouth."_

_"Better hurry up , Johnny, they are ready to hit the road."_

_"Oh shut up, I'll go take a piss first, that beer needs to get out. They ain't gonna go far."_

"All set." Kal was greeted by Lois' smile, as she looked up at him with a renewed eagerness.

"I have my car right outside. Mind waiting for me though, I need to visit the men's room. Nature's calling." he shot her an apologetic look. But the sudden blush coloring his cheeks was too cute for words and Lois playfully punched his arm, urging him to go.

Zipping himself up, the rough man that had interlaced himself in a quarrel with Lois, moved whistling towards the single sink. With his bladder unloaded and his mind still driven by booze, he could already feel the juicy lips of the rebellious gal enveloping his member and he just couldn't wait to teach her audacity a lesson. He proudly applauded his reflection in the mirror, ducked his head to splash some water and lifted up his gaze again. Only this time, he found not just one, but two faces staring back at him.

"Hello, Johnny boy"

"Holy shit!"

The man named Johnny almost yelped at the sight of the grim face smiling sardonically at him. For an instant, it was as if most of its features were inexplicably shadowed, while lurid fires darted out the sockets where the eyes should be, and if it wasn't for the white turtleneck and the familiar glasses, Johnny would assume he had met his maker beforehand. Turning around, he came face to face with Kal's grin and rage overflowed him.

" Well isn't this the four-eyes loser...What are you laughing at, shithead?"

Kal remained apathetic to the insults and, if anything, his evil grin grew wider.

"Did you hear me, you moron? Get lost or I'll wipe that grin off your pretty face myself."

"I am wondering..." Kal thought aloud , maintaining his poisonous smile and thus, tossing Johnny's anger on new levels , "have you learned your manners in a cave?"

"Oh that's it, you were asking for it." the other man barked , suddenly taking out a butterfly blade. "You're just making my work easy with you, before I get your bitch and make her scream."

Not wasting time, Johnny forcefully attacked but Kal easily grabbed his wrist , halting his advance. With one swift move, he turned the small dagger around, stabbing viciously Johnny's palm. At the same time, Kal hushed the punk's painful screams with his hand, and he shoved him towards the toilet wall, pinning him there.

"Shuuussshhhh...don't...make...a sound."

Johnny's eyes jumped frantically from the fiery blaze inside Kal's orbs, to the fresh blood running down his hand, and back at his sadistic assaulter. Realizing he had no other option, he obeyed , fiercely moving up and down his head in an unwilling nod. Kal violently pulled out the blade and Johnny had to bite down his lips hard, in an attempt to muffle his cries. Putting a distance between him and the other man, Kal brought the small dagger to his mouth, and showily licked the crimson drops off the blade.

"Your blood tastes just as awfully as you stink." Kal scoffed, sending the butterfly blade to hit the tiled floor.

Pressing the deep wound in his palm, Johnny stared at him petrified, not quite believing his eyes. "Jesus Christ...."

"Jesus...Jesus...Jesus...." Kal shook his head and sighed. "Why all the scums like you always remember him only when you shit your pants?"

"Look man...I don't know what kind of freak you are, but in these streets? You just got yourself totally screwed..."

In the blink of an eye, Kal was all over him again , his fingers clenching Johnny's throat like vice. "Really? I am scared now, terrified."

"Li..listen..." the lock on his flesh, making his voice come out hoarse and muffled.."if...if it's about the...the bitch, I never even..tou-touched her ...so why..why don't you leave me a...alone and go to..Hell?"

"Hell..." Kal chuckled , the man's fear feeding his spirit ..."I'll say it once, and you better grave it in your memory, Johnny boy. In this world, for you, _I ... am... the Devil._..And if you ever touch a single hair from that girl's head , or even dare to spell her name wrong, I am gonna make your life..._my Hell_."

In a last horrific performance, Kal El's eyes blazed crimson and, for the first time, he exposed his fangs only one breath away Johnny's frozen expression. Releasing him from his firm grip, he watched amused as Johnny's back slid down the tiled wall shivering, with his pale face marked forever by the horror of knowing.

Untroubled, Kal El walked away from the men's room and soon, the calm but mysterious Clark Kent was greeting Lois close to the bar's exit.

However, his brief absence had somehow disturbed the magnetic influence he had on Lois , giving her time to reason the whole situation. She had admitted to herself that, however attracted to Clark she was, he still hadn't stopped being a man she barely knew one week. And well, the truth was that she hadn't originally planned that night out, and , that said , there were already important stuff for her to settle early in the morning. Suddenly , the whole idea to continue the fun _elsewhere, _sounded pretty impulsive for her to follow, while the rain was hollering outside._  
_

"Ready to go?"

"Yeah..about that..." she chewed on her lip nervously..."I actually kinda changed my mind, Clark. I think it would be better if I just headed home. I've got loads to deal with early tomorrow, since I only recently moved in as well, and...as much as the booze running through my veins yells at me at the moment what a party pooper I am, my head also spins a little..."

"It's ok, Lois. If you prefer returning home now, then home it is." he nodded with understanding. "Come, I will drop you there."

"Clark, my flat is only two blocks away, you don't have to..."

"Have you checked the weather outside? Do you really want to get a shower too, apart returning home?" he teased, earning her own smirk. "Seriously Lois, my car is just outside, and you are on my way, since I am only few minutes from here too."

Lois Lane didn't really need further persuasion. It had already cost her enough to turn down the possibilities that a night with him could promise her, so she gladly jumped in his Mustang as soon as they stormed out the Irish bar and into the medley of the nocturnal downpour.

"You have equipped it nicely...." she remarked , smoothly trailing her fingertips on the car's wooden interior. Her eyes didn't delay in falling on the additional cd player. "May I?"

"Yes, all yours..." Kal started the engine the moment Lois put the first track into play. "I personally put together that cd, it includes some of my favorite songs." Lois heard him adding, as she rested her head on the glass, allowing the power ballad inside and the rainy scenery outside, to enrapture her.

Whatever magic there was though, lasted only a few minutes, since soon Lois' building made its unwelcome appearance. Kal switched off the engine and kept his gaze nailed at the obscure road before him , waiting for the sound of the car's door to stir him back in a reality without her. But that sound never came, and Kal slowly turned his head to the right, only to find Lois intensely staring at him.

Maybe because the ravaging rain outside was isolating them from the world, intensifying their proximity...maybe because their passion's tumult could finally flourish in the silence of the car rather than at any buzzing bar...or maybe just cause the time of separation is always the darkest hour...but the moment they crossed their glances, all past and future deserted their meaning, and the heat of the moment came howling to set their souls on fire.

As the drops fondled the front glass, they reflected like tiny black spots on his half lightened face, gracing him with a mysterious aura that somehow called her name. His inviting lips leaned in , barely brushing against her own and their now mixed breaths , created an unprecedented warmth that stroked every inch of their smooth skins. Her finger traced his strong yet enigmatic jaw, and when his own hand settled on the base of her velvet neck, Lois eyes fluttered shut, preparing her to surrender to the ultimate , erotic exhilaration.

And then, the next music track started.

The first notes of an eerie melody, strangely familiar, caressed the already electrified air. Recent memories were aroused from their hides in the back of Lois' mind. That instrumental music...the so well known...that haunting sound...the so familiar...the mysterious rustle of leaves in the cemetery.... the bizarre wail of the winds in the alley near the morgue... the song in the cd....the man whistling..._the man whistling._

Awareness rocked its drums tremendously inside her mind and, suddenly, Lois understood.

Her eyes opened wide, and the pounding of her heart threatened to tear down its recesses, burst out of her body and blazon abroad its terror. She immediately pulled back, meeting his eyes full of questions, hoping to find in them the proof that would leave this sudden revelation unconfirmed....but for a brief second , his gaze got derailed , unwillingly lying on the one and only music source. And her fears started dancing anew.

"I...I am sorry, I can't...I...I have to go now, it's getting late and...and I really have to go."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, yes I am...Have a good night."

She almost fled from the car in panic, striving to keep her gait at normal pace. But as soon as she turned her face away, her palm rushed to cover her mouth, hushing deep within her the screams that craved to storm out her lungs.

Kal El watched her walking away from him and his face darkened. He was no fool, he knew well that the unlucky moment Lois listened to the song - _his song _- she instantly connected all the dots , forming the thread that led up to him. He could smell it in her female scent; there was now fear in her soul, fear of him.

It was time to change strategy, because on the spur of the moment, Clark Kent had sold away all his privileges in Lois' heart. Taking off his glasses, Kal El held them outside the window , under the ruthless rain. His jaw muscles contracted and , at the same time, his pair of glasses was getting crushed inside his palm. Not wasting any time, the storm swept the shivers away from the naked road.

The show was officially over.


	8. Chapter 7

**7**

_A photograph is a secret about a secret. The more it tells you the less you know._

_~ Diane Arbus_

_______________________

The walls were thrumming all around. The inner , undulating suspense was merging the seconds, making time meaningless and forcing it out of perspective. Not missing the chance, thoughts were burgeoning into threats , rushing to devour the emptiness of time. Nerves had abandoned the body, betrayed by their own certainty they could withstand the unexpected, and nothing could be felt anymore with senses, for the fear was flowing from the inside. The mind was howling in the prison itself had forged, and the heart was left alone to escort with its erratic drumming the soul's torment. The horror...the horror...

The door closed behind her, and all Lois craved was to banish away the madness of the night. But her hands were still shaking as she took a few steps into the silence of her darkened flat, and her frightened breaths would still climb up her throat , ready to flee if only she let them. A part of herself wanted to just pour some light into that dim place, allowing it to sweep away the shadows, just in case the ones inside her head would follow their sisters and leave her in needed peace. And then, another part of herself would rise to hush its other half, because _he_ could still be out there, restlessly awaiting for a bright sign in the dark.

With the occasional lightnings being the only illuminating oasis within the stormy bedlam, Lois braced herself and walked slowly to her window. Outside, the streets were empty and the rain seemed their only companion as far as her eyes could reach. He was nowhere.

He...who was _he_?

Lois took a step back, his absence not granting her the relief she hoped for. Thoughts and voices were crammed in her mind, dancing in a frenzied whirl that the alcohol she had consumed was only making more unbearable. It just couldn't be true.

_"I would have gone there first thing, if it hadn't been for that dark clothed guy just... standing there"_  
It was never supposed to be true._  
" What brunette going down the stairs?"_  
Lois fiercely shook her head, in vain attempting to taunt the recent memories rising to life before her.  
_"Clark...Kent right? What a coincidence to find you here..."_  
She couldn't have been so clueless. All she had ever wanted was her life, that stranger. To win it back. Nothing else....nothing else...  
_"Then, you have considered me your stalker?"_  
And that headache was seriously compressing everything inside her into one throbbing spot, ready to explode. When she had turned unable to hold her liquor?  
_"I've never seen something like this before, we are talking about a hideous slaughter here."_  
The pain...the terror...manically waltzing together...the pain...the terror...  
_"There was no one coming down, Lois."_

"No.." The abrupt moan of distress broke the burdens of her quivering lips, as her name was left echoing in the arena of her mind, and Lois collapsed on her couch. Defeated by tiredness, she curled up to a fetus position and stayed there to wrestle with her inner despair. Suddenly, everything was painfully making sense. Why he was everytime one step ahead of her... Why she had sensed his presence in all those places, even if she had deliberately chosen to muzzle her screaming doubts. Possibilities kept rotating and forming the worst scenarios, as the alcohol mixed with her strain was deadening her awareness. The key to her case had been standing before her all along, and she had decided to flirt and toy with it instead. She always thought she was the one to pull the strings, but this time she had been the stunt into his comedy play. And the joke was on her.

Somewhere within the obscure world her exhausted consciousness and the blackness of her surroundings had shaped, a faint knock was hesitantly declaring its existence and , since the minutes had flown by, Lois couldn't tell for how long its rhythmic sound had been worrying her door. She stood up with surprising easiness, and, for a second, she mused that the throbbing pain on her temples had finally set her free. The same couldn't be said for the pounding of her heart, as the knock on the door was turning more and more commanding, the closer she was getting. Her focus was glued on the wooden surface before her, and every strong thump was morphing her steps into borderline bounces. She took a moment to swallow down the panic that was threatening to overwhelm her all over again, and with one courageous move , she swung the door open.

The silence saluted her.

Wetting her dry lips, Lois peeped her head out. The corridor was expanding dark and empty to the right, ending up where the dead elevator should be. Turning slowly to the left, the sense of abandon was wandering outside the firmly shut doors of the rest flats, and only the glimmering light of an old lamp seemed to stir the bizarre peace. Holding her breath, Lois closed the door as smoothly as she could, as if she was trying to not disturb the demons she had just found sleeping. Too bad for her, their first son was already casually leaning on her wall next to the door.

Lois yelped.

"You..."

"Oh yeah..._me_."

He cracked a sinister yet dazzling smile and seemed amused at her ordeal, as he followed the two steps back she instinctively took.

"Why...why you came here?"

"To take what belongs to me."

"What.."

Lois never managed to finish her sentence. In the blink of an eye, he was all over her. Her back crushed to the wall and the bounce of her body was halted by his own weight pinning her there. Personal space lost its every meaning, his broad shoulders locking everything away from her sight, with all the roads leading up to his captivating face. In an instant, the temperature was boosted to preternatural degrees and sexual desire violently stole the reigns from logic. Purposely, he pressed his groin on her flat belly again and again, allowing his throbbing manhood to state loud and clear there was no escape, no other option.

But would Lois even want to have another option? She doubted it. Not when his virile advance was causing her excitement to soak her panties like this. Inhaling her scent, he let his cool breath tantalize the sensitive skin of her neck, and then he traveled north , his tongue darting out to lick all her soft spots on his way up. This was not a lover worshiping the object of his desires, this was an animal tasting his defenseless prey right before the ultimate devour. They locked their gazes for one brief second - that was the only luxury he allowed her - before he dived hungrily for the nectar of her mouth.

Lois was lost. This was not a passionate kiss. This was her domination rubbed triumphantly on her face. He eagerly nipped and tugged and sucked on her flesh with bruising force. His tongue never waited for her to grant him access. It forced itself into the sweet curves of her mouth, stroking and battling with her own , claiming the territory and allowing the fever to come ruthless and swoop everything up. More audacious than his lips, his hands trailed their own forbidden paths on her body, roaming and squeezing wherever they could reach.

She was a helpless pebble in his delirious sea. But the most frightening thought was that she felt she was exactly where she belonged. She wanted more. She needed more. More of him. More of_ this_. Trying to keep up with his insane pace and his voracious motions was a difficult task, however she really couldn't care less. Her body followed his lead, writhing underneath him and pressing back, heating up the friction between his crotch and her pelvis. He fiercely detached his mouth from hers, leaving her lips swollen seeking back his warmth. Before though she groaned her complaint, he pulled aside her shirt and dashed to the exposed flesh of her right shoulder, sucking and biting hard. As in perfect symphony, she heard her belt being broken and torn away, and the metallic sound of useless buttons hitting the floor, was lost somewhere within the feverish mirth, as he shoved his right hand into her jeans.

"Claaark..."

Her moan echoed like a long wheeze, overpowered by the erotic sickness. His rubbing on her womanhood was crazy, fitful, mirroring their own impatience for union and release. She dug her nails on his scalp, tangling her fingers with his raven locks, and literally hanged onto him as her hips kept responding to the spasmodic dance of his hand. But it was within that fiery vortex of emotions and urges, that a weird, uninvited sound , came buzzing to distort the picture and enhance the confusion.

The world over his shoulder and beyond him had morphed into a blur and, always dizzy by his ministrations, Lois searched under heavy eyelids around for the shameless intruder.

"What..what is that?"

For a moment, he rested his forehead in the crook of her neck, panting heavily , and then his focus traveled up, allowing his tongue to fully circle the shell of her ear before his whisper followed as a warm caress.

"It's your mobile , Lois....pick it up."

"Huh?"

Without giving her time to process what was going on, his hands grabbed both sides of her jeans and with one violent motion , he tore them to shreds, leaving them hanging around her ankles.

"Showtime!"

Her eyes widened, and for a brief second, she was staring at her puzzled reflection inside his laughing green orbs. And then he shifty flipped her around. Suddenly, her back was shoved hard against him , her palms were forced to flatten on the wall, and as she frantically lifted up her eyes, her face came first to greet...

...the floor.

Lois blinked. Disorientated, she glanced around but she was only welcomed by the unruffled silence of her dark flat. Rising up from her lying position between the couch and the coffee table, Lois dragged her flabbergasted stare from the crumpled cushions to the lonely window. The darkened world outside was still the only source of light, however , the storm had been tamed, and the night was sprinkling the glass with delicate hand came to rub her forehead and her fingertips softly touched the numbness of her face, testament that Morpheus had crept in and enveloped her unexpectedly, while the night events had been wrecking her on the couch. She was still shocked by the earlier revelations, but now she was more worried for what those revelations had failed to do; save her from the damnation her dream had just betokened.

The dream's intensity scared her and excited her the same. She was even surprised she had managed to pull herself out from the forbidden reverie, just before she would witness her own, unholy taking. And then she remembered.

"Cellphone..'

She found her purse forgotten on the armchair. Although the cellphone stood silent and its screen was not lighted up anymore, the indication of a new message waiting for her appeared as soon as she clicked on the numbers.

_"Nickoles was seen at a club before her murder."_

Lois' eyebrows joined to a pensive frown. For her source to text her something like this, it meant the MPD and Malone had discovered more and were using all means available to keep everyone else in the dark. The wheels of her mind started turning in reverse , playing again the night Nickoles was murdered. Her body had been found at early hours in the cemetery, naked and heavily abused. The lack of traces around was a clear indication to her that everything had taken place elsewhere, which consequently meant that the time Nickoles was at the club couldn't be that far from the time of the murder itself. It had to be an 'after dark' club, one of the underground type that could go on and on till morning. And, although Metropolis was notorious for its night life, there was only one club , relatively near the cemetery, that could fit the scenario toyed within her mind.

Putting her earlier demons to sleep, Lois Lane smirked wickedly. Tomorrow night, she was entering Atlantis.

____________

Stupid. Moron. Worthless. A pussy-slave.

For the past hour, Kal El had been very generous with himself, adorning his pathetic being with a parade of "compliments". All the way from Metropolis back to the mansion, had been an interesting and inflamed debate with the reflection on his mirror, and if he hadn't returned fast to the vampire nest , his Mustang would have certainly counted one glass less. Guilt was a heavy load for just two shoulders.

Ten minutes now, he was dragging his feet around the imposing residence like a sordid turncoat. His wet locks were stuck on his skin , allowing the rain water to form serpentine streams down his face and jaw. Crouching like a beast through the bushes of the savage gardens, Kal couldn't decide if all he longed for was to bury himself inside one of the crypts, deep within the mansion's caves, or if he just deserved to stick there till the hollering dawn would come and burn its mark on his pale skin. If he could be that incompetent as he had proved himself tonight, then it would only be a fair game.

He just couldn't fathom at what point exactly he had lost all control. He was supposed to approach her, make her trust him and , thus, reveal to him whatever she knew about the easy and simple guideline to keep track on. So , after a furious ride on the wrong lane, how he had additionally ended up derailed, it was way beyond his comprehension. That night the plan had been to keep an eye on her...realize how close or how far from the truth her smart ass had brought itself...learn in what way that kid with the ridiculous bow tie was connected to her...And what his all mighty had accomplished? Nothing. He had played her game and gloriously scored zero.

He was mad at himself. Furious. Not even once that night they had got down to brass tacks. Instead he had been silly flirting with her all along, royally proving how low his instincts could bring him, how they could kneel him. Moreover , at the end of that parody, his perfect masked self, his alter ego he was so proud of, that fake Clark Kent had gone one step further, dropping the curtains and showing her his lie. Instead of Lois revealing her secrets to him, he had revealed his rotten truth to her.

How could a woman crawl under his skin like this...how could any human being even reach there? He was impenetrable. Ever since his childhood, that was his morality, that was his value, that was...

_"He is like his mother, prone to exaggerate, but you...you are impenetrable, my child."_

Lionel had been right. He was impenetrable. He had to be.

"Claaark.."

A female moan like a long wheeze, overpowered by a mysterious erotic sickness, pierced through the cool air. Kal turned instantly around, his eyes scanning the dark cluster of trees, foliages and thorns behind him. No one was there though, after a brief second he was certain his senses couldn't smell a soul. Stimulated by his desperation, his mind seemed envious of a jester's job and thus had begun playing tricks on him. If this was how the night planned to continue, full of shrill voices so ironically reminding him of her, one thing was sure: he wouldn't make it through.

Kal El balanced his options. Maybe staying alone and praying for the abyss to savor him, was not a good idea after all. Maybe, now, more than ever, he needed the only person that had graced him with comfort through all their miserable years together. The only one he knew that could erase the doubts and stress from his soul, making him disregard the world and its saviors even for one moment. Because, it had always been _that_ kind of a bond between them; sharing each other's burden...granting each other release. All those bloody nights Kal would open the doors of his bedroom to shield him away from Lionel's wrath...so the monster would not find them...so the world could continue its fairytale without them...All those prophetic moments. And Kal was not more than sixteen years old...a kid...

Tonight, it was one of those moments. Kal was just hoping Lana had gathered up her vampire toys to go play elsewhere.

Avoiding any inquiring faces, Kal El paced quickly through the corridors and halls. He was lucky the mansion wasn't on one of its usual frenzies; the night was still seated comfortably on its throne, so most of the vampires were outside hunting their enjoyment. Plus, with Davis arriving soon, a large number of them was already standing their posts.

Reaching the room he aimed for, Kal took a second to momentarily close his eyes before turning the knob.

As soon as the door opened, the hubbub of voices coming from inside abruptly died out.

"Kal!...Exactly the man we were waiting for..please, come in."

Alexander's eyes sparkled , as he happily waved at him to get closer. Kal stood startled , his gaze wavering around the familiar faces he hadn't expected to find.

"Are we having a party, or what?" he chuckled, but his joke quickly faltered as , with the exception of Alexander's amused face, it was greeted by no one else. Lana was silently sitting on Alexander's usual seat, but the cold look she was casting at him , colored by a hint of disdain, could scream more than words. Next to the office desk, rigid as if her body had grown its own roots, Tess stood motionless and her troubled gaze wouldn't dare to meet his own full of questions one. Her lower lip was faintly quivering , betraying an untold inner struggle and if spite was an image, that could very well be reflected in her bewildered eyes. He could feel the vibe of disappointment on his right, only few steps away from him, written on Maxima's worried expression and, occasionally, Lucas' snickers would break the awkwardness, as the young man was leisurely leaning next to a wide black screen. On the other side of the screen, Milton Fine, an elder vampire that the Luthor family had always been using for its business behind the scenes, was completing with his stern look the uncanny flock.

"Party?" Alexander threw a pretentious look at the rest and continued with his inspired charade "No, no...we just have been watching something really interesting, you should actually join us."

Kal took a couple of steps into the room, sensing Maxima's aura slipping behind him and the door closing with a low creak.

"Ok, what's going on?" he searched in vain for some sort of answer from the grim faces surrounding him, before his focus was set again on the man he had ached to find only few minutes ago. "Lex?"

In response, Alexander pulled a handmade , wooden chair and placed it almost in the middle of the room and right before the wide screen.

"Come , Kal...sit with us" still clenching the back of the chair, he motioned at the seat with his head "Join us, let's watch together."

"Actually I prefer standing right...."

"_SIT_...Kal"

The sudden burst of Alexander's voice made Kal almost gape back at him. His pupils dilated as various emotions channeled themselves through the electrified air, and his abashment grew anew when Alexander's features relaxed as abruptly as they had tensed , welcoming back that annoyingly playful smile on his lips. Kal stared speechless at his friend for a few more seconds , and since everyone else seemed to hold their breaths, he decided to play along and take that seat, in a futile attempt to ease the tension.

"There you go.." Alexander ominously towered over him from behind, and the soft pat on his shoulder came cunningly to remind him that something was awfully wrong. "Trust me , Kal, you are going to love this. Milton, from the beginning, if you please..."

The moment the label of an Irish bar shined green on the screen, Kal felt an anchor sinking its weight on his heart. He lowered his gaze as his earlier smashed ego returned to set its fragments on fire.

"Eyes on the screen, Kal. We don't want you to miss the best parts now, do we?"

With Alexander's cynical remarks flooding the nerves of his mind with rage , Kal El moved his gaze back to the screen and clenched his jaw. Soon, more photos succeeded the forefront of the building. Smiling faces, mysteriously flaring up under the warm lights of the bar counter, were replaced by images of intimate moments in a dangerous merry-go-round with a simple pool table its center...her treating him with an erotic smirk along with another beer...him parting her knees and shamelessly leaning in...candids of both of them insatiably devouring each other at points either wasn't looking...a beaten man lying helpless on a dirty, tiled floor...them exiting the bar and entering the night together...

A torrent of feelings bombarded Kal's fragile awareness. Desire, joy, rage, pain, guilt..everything returned crushing in , as the events of the night were flashing by his kindled with anger eyes. Whatever he had lived, tasted and felt for the past hours had been cruelly captured and condemned to exist forever in cages that were masked as innocent pictures. A close up on her face showed up, and Lois blazed more beautiful than ever, as her dazzling grin brightened up the whole screen.

"Hold it right there, Milton."

With a cocky glance at them, Fine courtly obeyed and instantly the shot froze. For the first time leaving Kal's side, Alexander approached the wide screen with his features radiating awe. His hand came to trace an invisible path on Lois' face, as it was carelessly smiling back at their dark and moody fellowship. From the brown locks framing her flushed cheeks to the cute, facial lines engulfing her pearly smile, from the warmth deep inside those hazels to the shadowed corner her jawline and neck were creating, he notionally touched every sweet spot Kal El had always longed to just taste.

Sitting on burning coal, Kal almost felt jealous.

After a short pause, Alexander turned around, shoving his hands in the pockets of his expensive slacks.

"Simply gorgeous...I have to give it to you Kal, you always get the best pussies in town."

"It's not what you think..." he whispered through clenched teeth.

"Oh, of course it is not what I think. Actually, it must be a lot more than that, otherwise you would be there fucking her brains out right now."

"She is only a human, Lex, don't make a big deal out of this."

"You almost killed that scum in a public bathroom , and it's me who's making a big deal? What did the moron do Kal? Checked out her ass while you were too busy ogling it too?"

"Lex, it was just one night and you...you even sent people to spy on me." Kal's wide eyes were almost imploring him to reason the situation.

"Yeah..." he sadly shook his head.." and until Milton came back with the shots, I was actually hating myself for that."

Kal searched for the right words to describe what he was feeling, but his attempts were only meeting the void. His full lips hanged parted while his face was shimmering under a different emotion with every minute passing by. Instinctively, he sought for Lana's comfort, but she averted her eyes from his azure , abandoning him to fight that battle alone.

"Look, I can explain." He finally breathed out.

"Explain...well, that would be a good start."

"I have been keeping an eye on her for a week now, I was actually working on our case tonight."

"And you never thought of telling me because..."

"You were too busy with Davis, Lex! The whole mansion is, you said it yourself. And then we have that unleashed killer around...what difference would it make if I just told you about one woman?"

"So, if you were keeping an eye on her , then go ahead, share with us what you have learned so far. We're all ears."

Kal opened his mouth to answer but no words ever came out. Defeated by his own Furies, he kept staring into Alexander's blues with such intensity, as realization that his friend was right was sinking on; it was indeed a lot more than that.

"Exactly what I thought..." Alexander pursed his lips disappointed and for a second his gaze traveled to meet the nocturnal rhapsody outside. "You know..the most interesting part is _who_ exactly Lois Lane is." Noticing that the sound of her name brought a twinkle at the corner of Kal's eyes, he chaffingly grinned. "Yeah, Kal, while you were wandering outside, I decided to do a little research....So , it seems that, not only you forgot to tell me you have been stalking a female, supposedly for our benefit...but that she also happens to be a reporter, having worked ...surprise , surprise... at the Daily Planet."

He waited in case any answer came, and when no one dared that favor, he continued.

"An obnoxious, witty and persistent reporter that has made it her habit to sprout where least expected and mingle herself with everyone's business. And I am learning tonight that this girl, Lane, had also showed up in the cemetery when police was investigating. So, forgive my ignorance Kal, but I am actually wondering how long it will take that woman to get her claws in your pants and, thus, reach closer than ever to the whole clan? Judging by those photos...three days, four maybe?"

"There's no such chance, Lex.."

"Why? Oh, cause you are in perfect control? But you know what..I am not blaming entirely you. See, it wasn't _your _responsibility to freaking check who the hell gets in and out of the Daily Planet."

Flames darted out of Alexander's eyes, hitting bull's eye on Tess' heart. Kal had company at the corner tonight.

"Refresh my memory, Mrs Mercer...Why exactly did I send the old man home and put you in his place?"

"I am sorry Lex, I honestly.." Tess' trembling voice echoed so alien in the dim room, its unstable vibe hardly reminding of Daily Planet's bitchy editor.

"I didn't ask you that."

"I took over so the clan.."

"And raise up that volume, we can hardly hear you."

Tess gulped down her ego and then straightened her back, in an attempt to at least visually line up with Alexander's expectations.

"I took over so the clan could gain absolute power over Metropolis' center of media, so we could have everything and everyone under our influence."

"Yeah...however it looks like your incompetency missed someone, Mrs Mercer...and , not wasting any time, that someone went and found our Kal boy here...or was it you that found her Kal? After seeing your little performance on that pool table, it might have been you who offered her his head on a plate for all I know..."

Watching Kal's humiliation all this time, Lucas couldn't hold his amusement caged anymore.

"You are sooo screwed, man.."

A loud smack tore Lucas' derisive chuckles and the back of a palm gashed the flesh of his lips, inflaming his face.

"_Silence!_"

An unwelcome shudder ran through Tess' body and Maxima took shocked a step back, raising her arms to brace herself. Snorting out his fury after his sudden eruption, Alexander wore back his calmness and slowly approached Kal, who all the time stood aghast at the scene before him. Bending his knees, he slightly lowered himself over his seated friend and gently cradled his gorgeous face in his hands. The same hands that had just offered pain to his brother.

"Have I ever failed you, Kal El?" His voice soft, almost fatherly. "Haven't I always shared everything with you? Haven't I always trusted you?"

Kal nodded slowly, quietly gripping his friend's wrists with his own hands.

"Then why you kept this secret from me?"

"I don't keep secrets from you, Lex. Don't do this."

"All I ever wanted from you was the truth..."

"And you have it. She's only a human , just let me deal with her. Don't bring others into this, Lex."

Taking in the hope into Kal's emeralds, Alexander exhaled deeply and lightly brushed the brunette's forehead with his own. Their contact lasted only for a mere moment, before Alexander pulled back, detaching himself from his friend. Kal's fingers instantly curled before the sudden emptiness.

"You may deal with her , Kal, but I am sorry, you won't be let alone in this anymore. I want frequent reports on whatever is going on. I have to leave now, Davis is already out of Metropolis, he arrived earlier than expected. As for all of you..." his gaze briefly danced on the silent faces surrounding him " ..you'd better _fix this_. I don't want a single thing to ruin tomorrow night either the Baptism or its follow-up in Atlantis."

Alexander exited the room, leaving his words crash like heavy rocks behind him. Ignoring the rest souls around even though they were sharing his own strain, Kal El slowly dragged his, clouded by dread, eyes up on the screen...there, where life was still smiling back at him.

_________________

As the night went on, the rain vanished completely, leaving a wet carpet as its legacy for the dawn to inherit and engulf. But just before the dark farewelled the world, twenty minutes away from an asleep Lois and a little more than an hour far from a locked in his crypt Kal, the gong of Fate rang at the point of zero.

The elevator doors opened , revealing the dark and silent parking lot. The man walked around whistling a happy tune, the soft drumming of his soles getting maximized within the lifeless arena of cars. Despite the heady wine running through his veins, he easily located the red Ferrari Enzo. He was about to bring out his keys, when the strident sound of a stealthy creep on the cement ground caused him to turn around.

"Well well, what do we....._oh my Go_.."

The sentence was left to linger unfinished forever, as nasty claws and sharp teeth furiously sealed the prey's destiny. Like an empty shell, the man's disemboweled body hit the ground and his frozen irises were left to eternally reflect the horror he had lived through his very last seconds.

Unmoved by the macabre scenery, the predator watched silently as crimson blood started pooling around the dead man. It was time for some painting.


	9. Chapter 8

Whoever would like to listen to the chants that echo through the first part of the chapter, please visit you tube, typing its url and adding /watch?v=1H0Y7WJqTs8 (or search there for "Gothic Choral" uploaded by KibikyToks )

* * *

**Chapter 8**

_Camilla: You, sir, should unmask.  
Stranger: Indeed?  
Cassilda: Indeed, it's time. We have all laid aside disguise but you.  
Stranger: I wear no mask.  
Camilla: (Terrified, aside to Cassilda.) No mask? No mask!_

_~ Act I, Scene 2d (The King In Yellow) _

____________________

The balmy touch fondled his soft palm, radiating streams of glow through and beyond him. The man that wasn't him insouciantly lifted up his eyes, beaming at the soothing presence by his side. The sunlight was flickering through a wave of hair , reflecting its splendor and blurring his companion's image. But the broad smile that was greeting him back was unmistakable and it was enough to soften every wrinkle on his heart. Expanded and undulated, the daylight was dulcifying every spirit honored to promenade beneath its majesty that fine morning, noun or afternoon , as time had vaporized before this essence of absolute tranquility. Fields of green extended to the vast horizon and the nature was fueling the atmosphere with various, fruity aromas as they were dashing down the hills.

Running. The man was running now, happy...free...past care. Feeling the cool air invading his lungs, only to steal a fragment of his core and unite it with the rest of the world as he exhaled. And then, in what couldn't be more than a blink of an eye, the scenery dissolved to something unholy. Once again, he was standing before the same abysmal cave. Once again, he was all alone.

The rough rock stood menacing and forbidding, veins of moisture skimming its coarse surface, but the graven letters above the Stygian entrance were now clearer. Mastering all his will power, he focused again and again, concentration compressing his temples, his eye brows meddling into a smudge above the crook of his nose...and then, while the mist was dissipating, he could finally distinguish what looked like an "R".

"Claaaark!"

The anguished blare pierced through the blackness the exact same time the canopies of the darkened sky were torn apart and hell was unleashed upon him. The man stood there, unable to even flinch, his body squirming in agony as the wailing storm of blood was penetrating his skin. His companion's cries were still reaching his ears through the torrential bedlam of thunders and howls, and, somewhere in the background of all this, powerful and mysterious chants were joining the sacrilege, their apocryphal sound magnifying the Apocalypse. Falling on his knees, the man couldn't take it anymore. He craved to scream his lungs out, to rend his own flesh, to...

Kal violently burst into awakeness.

The air was humid. Sat up on the cold, elevated marble in the middle of a round crypt, he passed his hand over his mouth and let his eyes get used to the pitch dark around him. This time he had managed to figure out one of the letters, but still , whatever his nightmares were trying to tell him, remained a riddle. Someone had kept calling him tonight, crying the name of the mask he had shaped for himself, but he couldn't even fathom if the voice belonged to a male or a female. These dreams were getting more and more intense. He could almost still feel those mysterious chants jumping out of his slumber and escorting him into reality.

Wait a minute....

Tuning into the mansion's vibe, Kal listened closely. From afar, the eerie vocals of a haunted choir were echoing through the silence, infusing the mouldy atmosphere of the crypts with magic. The chants had never been a ghost of his dreamworld.

_"The Baptism. It has started."_

Without pondering over it more, Kal El jumped off the small altar in less than a second. His gait was quick, however it wasn't the first time he had missed the beginning of the ritual; cobwebbed memories of him and Alexander belatedly sneaking into the Elders' Hall saluted him from the tatters of his childhood. Storming out of his crypt, he noticed a simple, black mask on top of a short, crimson tunic, both placed neatly inside a small wall niche. His fingertips fondled briefly the silky cloth before he smiled.

"Maxima..."

Taking off his clothes one by one, Kal El followed the Orphic chants as they were reverberating through the dim, underground passage ways. His confident strides were in perfect sync with the rattling sound of drums partnering the voices, and his gaze, untrammeled by his surroundings, was always nailed ahead as he was randomly scattering his clothes around. The moment he was past the crypts, the spiral staircase that was leading to the mansion made its appearance, but this time he chose to ignore it. Naked as the day he was born and still more gorgeous than ever, Kal El stepped through what it looked like a pitch-dark veil behind the staircase, where only the wall could rise as the ultimate dead-end. Only it wasn't exactly what it seemed.

Well hidden inside the obscure mist, the murky tunnel twisted and turned before him and the distinct sound of a gurgling stream declared the existence of water nearby. The underground channel lead to a medium-sized cavern that could be the forgotten trace of a fairytale that had once traversed that world. A shallow lake covered the biggest part of the cavern and lotus shaped candles were floating on its dark surface, illuminating the place with a pale and preternatural silver. Kal's reflection shimmered on the still waters as he crossed the arched bridge joining either side of the cave. Soon he found himself staring at an upright, sculptured tombstone which, though, was still a part of the caves' walls. The path seemed to come to an end there, however, Kal knew better.

Trailing his open palm over the carved Latin letters, he paused over "VENI, VIATOR" _(come, traveler)_ and pushed. The letters faintly glowed red for a second and then, slowly, the heavy stone subsided to the right, revealing a whole different scenery before him. A long corridor cloaked with a rich carpet in which sapphire and burgundy red were mixed in ancient designs, illustrating medieval battles stirred to life, was unfolding in front of him. The chants resounded louder now, menacingly warning the intruders about an upcoming existence, so secret and unhallowed, as Kal continued through the ascending, royal hallway.

"Finally...took you some time."

Maxima suddenly slid on his right, effectively matching his step. A, similar to his own, crimson tunic was barely engulfing her feminine assets, making the torrent of her hair look even more fiery, one of the rare times she was deprived of her green wardrobe. Contrary to him, she had the black mask on.

"Thanks for leaving these outside the crypt for me."

"Well, someone has to look after you."

They walked together up to the golden, arched door with the imposing entablatures and pediments made of jade. Kal cast a brief glance at its two - firmly shut - huge leaves, and followed Maxima as she drifted through a narrow passage on their right. Soon they came across a small, secret entrance. Its cedren door stood slightly open.

"Looks like you weren't the only one delayed."

He smirked at her whisper, before putting on his black mask and sliding through the opening right behind her. They lightly pulled aside the heavy, velvet curtain and...there it was. The Elders Hall.

The place was like a magnificent auditorium. Ruby orbs, seemingly hanged from nowhere, levitated around shedding a numinous light towards every possible direction. Six large mosaic-covered columns supported the domical ceiling, while spectacular Gothic emblems and figures decorated the massive walls as far as the eye could reach. Countless levels of granite balconies were ominously enveloping the large arena, where a sea of men and women were currently glorifying the mystic ceremony with their dark chorals. The whole hall soared as a buzzing beehive of black masked vampires.

The ones crammed in the various balconies, as well as the majority of those standing in the arena, were dressed in flimsy, white tunics. However, the first lines shined in a dark crimson, as the vampires there wore tunics identical to the ones Kal and Maxima owned. The Elders. And this was their place, their temple, their shrine. In reality, the Elders Hall was a part of the mansion's interior. It was, however, so well isolated from the rest chambers, that one could reach it only through underground passages.

They slithered through the crowd as the chants were drumming their impressive climax throughout the hall, and finally approached the rest elders the exact moment the hymns surrendered to a magnificent death, allowing the temporary silence to spread all around. On what it looked like an elevated stage, Alexander stood silent, his eyes scanning the hordes of vampires hanging from his single word. Unlikely to everyone else, he was bare-chest , with a long black cloth covering his nudity from the waist and down. A heavy surcoat , with rows of rubies and a thick, fury collar was completing his extravagant appearance, while his evil blues were shielded behind a half faced mask. Lifting up his dragon head rod for a second, symbol of his indisputable hegemony, he hit it three times on the marble floor, letting the deep thumps hauntingly echo in the silence.

Instantly, from the back of the hall, the heavy leaves of the golden gate were dragged open, and a whirlwind of long-drawn out cries, chain rattlings and other sounds leaped into the air. The virgins. They were bringing them in. Diagonally to Kal, always present in the first line, Lana slightly turned her head and smugly grinned at him. Kal limited himself to a modest nod. Of course she was proud tonight, her own mouthpiece was turning to an elder.

In the middle of the grandiose hall and inside a circle one level lower than everyone else, a lonely figure waited with respect. His chest heaved with pride under his white tunic, bedewed with perfume as he stood, his sparkling eyes reflecting his eagerness. He knew well this was his night, his introduction to the higher ranks of his clan and craved to savor every minute of the unholy ritual. And, in his mind, he deserved it more than anyone. Having been Lana's loverboy for the past years, he had endured every little caprice of her snobbish company and had stood his ground against his own mother, which eventually had lead to Genevieve's absence from his own Baptism. However, blood ties were proved stronger than any past conflict as, tonight, Davis had been sent all the way from Europe to represent the fallen House of Teague. How Davis himself, the great vampire that everyone identified with such a horrific name as 'Doomsday', had ended up to France in the first place, that was a whole other story.

At the sound of the female laments, a smile cracked Jason's handsome face.

Around the circle, bare-chest male vampires were standing in a radial formation, each of them holding a burning torch. The whole impression given was that of a moribund sun, with Jason inside its dying core. High above them, the darkened vault of the hall crowned the center of the ritual. Random flutters were stirring its shadows into life, as a whole legion of bats nested within its cold recesses. And yet, the vault ended to a round opening, the only exit of that dim stronghold to the moonlit night.

Urged by a habit rooting back to his childhood, Kal El lifted mechanically his doleful eyes towards the vault.

_"Damn, look at those women, Kal. So innocent, so fresh...their bodies buzzing with life. The blood...Come on, pay attention."_

_"Oh stop picking on him, Lex. He's only at my Lana's age, not more than twelve years old, and he is almost as tall as you."_

_"Sweet, young Lana...how's your mortal niece, Nell?"_

_"You and your father can dream on..."_

_"Haha...we'll see that. Eyes on the ritual, Kal... and stop staring at the bats up there, what's so fascinating about them anyway?"_

_"It's not the bats I am looking at...it's the sky"_

The specters of the past paled away, the young face turning slowly to that of a handsome adult, but the azure eyes remained the same, longingly beholding the nocturnal sky with a need that could not be explained. It was Alexander's thunderous voice enchanting the ceremony with spells that made Kal El turn his gaze to the action before him.

"...evoco lunam, veni, defende mundi rectores tenebrarum. Fortius quam germanitas nullum est vinculum et nati sumus ad lucem evertendum..."

_(I summon the moon, come, defend the ones who rule the world in the darkness. There is no stronger bond than brotherhood and we're born to raze the light)_

Twelve virgins had already been chained on upright, wooden boards placed directly before each torch. Naked and with their dazed minds barely registering their surroundings, they still let their helpless moans resound as a cursed cacophony behind the casting spells. Like always, the next morning would find them safe in random alleys near their own houses, oblivious to what had happened to them and with the whole ritual fading in their memory under the disguise of a clouded dream.

Holding a medieval, sterling silver goblet with the one hand, and a Gothic, scull dagger with the other, a female vampire was approaching one by one the tied girls. The blade was momentarily sparkling under the shades of the crimson light, before marking their smooth flesh, each one on different body-part. Collecting the precious droplets into the goblet, the vampire continued her impious round until the cup was filled with the bloody nectar. Finally, she humbly handed the goblet to Alexander and withdrew to the shadows, completing her important role in the demonic tradition.

The moon had finally lined up with the opening of the vault, pouring its pearly halo around Jason, when Alexander raised the goblet.

"EX HOC MOMENTO PENDET AETERNITAS"

_(eternity is hinged upon this moment)_

At the sound of those words, Jason fell to his knees and, accepting the cup from its master, started thirstily gulping down the virgins' blood. The drums of rebirth thundered and the vampires began their sepulchral yet epic psalms once again. More blood started gushing from where Jason was still kneeling, as if the hall itself was mournfully bleeding, filling the entire circle and christening him with its warmth. The sun, bathed in blood, had finally been defeated from the moon's silver sword. And as Jason slowly stood to his feet, his once white tunic, soaked now in blood, was finally colored crimson. A new Elder had risen.

"Salvete, pueri singuinis"

_(greetings, oh children of the blood)_

Alexander greeted his clan with pride.

" Tonight, we praise a new guiding light into our clan, a new Elder to lead us along with the rest into eternity. We also have our brothers from Europe attending this special moment , for whom we are forever grateful." he raised his hand towards Davis and his entourage, who, with his turn, nodded respectfully acknowledging the honor.

"Together, we have come a long way and still a long way we have ahead. Drained by humans' vanity, the world once graced us with the greatest gift...immortality... in order to rule it through the ages and guide it towards a new era. This night, like every other night with a full moon, like our fathers, and the fathers of our fathers, and whole generations did back in time, we allow ourselves to celebrate our very own existence and taste the mortal life, own it and tame it once again...before returning to our nocturnal routine."

Feeling the hunger paralyzing his veins, Kal El watched his friend's speech ecstatic, while the beating of his heart was merging with the erratic pounding coming from everyone's chest. At that moment, If souls had their own sounds, the whole hall would be shaken down by their thunders.

"Follow me now as I proclaim the end of the Baptism and the beginning of the eternal Night!

Nil sine nobis! Carpe Tenebras!"

_(nothing without us! Seize the darkness!)_

The final beacon flared up with countless black masks flying into the air, as everyone revealed their faces in a symbolic embrace of darkness. And as the night cymbals continued their tune, hundreds of vampires were unleashed into a hunting race towards Metropolis.

______________________

Lois clung to the thin material of her jacket as she impatiently waited in the human line to Atlantis. Standing there for almost half an hour, she had already cursed the bouncers that couldn't do their jobs right, the damn weather that couldn't be less cold, her stupid idea to wear a leather cloth around her waist barely qualifying for a skirt, those annoying murders that were the reason she was there in the first place, Oliver who was embarrassing all males for breaking up with her....at some point it was obvious that if she stood there for a little more, her impatience would hit red alert and she would end up blaming God himself.

As famous it was for its services and its prestige, Atlantis was as much notorious for its tight door. Sometimes even members of the industry elite would find it hard to enter, even though the club itself was vast. For Lois, it wouldn't be the first time attempting to cross its snobbish gate. A couple years back, she and Chloe had the brilliant idea to celebrate there the latter's birthday, along with their one-moon escorts , only to bump onto the solid chests of two braindead giants effectively blocking the way for them. What had been even more aggravating was that the same morons had humbly opened the doors for the upscale couple waiting right behind them. casting Lois' anger to its zenith. Right then and there she had taken the, not very modest, decision that it wasn't her that hadn't been considered qualified to enter the club, but Atlantis the one that would never match her own style and taste, and for the past two years she had stuck to it, even though, later, Oliver's money and social profile could have got her in pretty easily, had she said the word. However, tonight, she was in need of a better luck, thus a drastic plan should take control over the situation.

Stepping out of the line, Lois distanced herself from the crowd and after taking out her cellphone, she braced herself and approached the entrance from the opposite side.

"...yes cuz, I'll be there tomorrow, now can we hang up cause I am chilled to the bone here and I want to go back to the club?"

"Excuse me, miss, the line is over there." A deep and charming voice halted her advance. Putting on her most innocent facade, Lois flashed a smile at the doorman and pointed at her cellphone.

"Oh, my friends are waiting for me inside. I was there when my cellphone rang and I had to get outside to take the call. Silly relatives always having the worst timing."

"I am sure that I would remember you if you had been inside." The man retorted calmly, still adamant to not let her pass.

"No, you misunderstood me. I was in, but I have been outside freezing and talking for like..an hour. Blame my cousin and her big mouth."

"Nice try, miss, but you aren't the first one that came up with the call idea for tonight."

_"Shit"_ Lois cursed inwardly. Intuiting her annoyance, the man smiled coldly and let his eyes travel on her impressive - and pretty exposed that specific night - frame. Feeling him fondling her with his gaze, she took the hint and sighed a little more showily than she normally would, allowing her voluptuous chest heave dangerously. Truth was though that she wasn't sure if tossing her female curves into the game, would have any effect on him; for one thing, he didn't look like the bouncers she normally saw outside Atlantis and other similar clubs. He was elegantly dressed and his silky, blond hair was pulled back to a ponytail. He lacked the broad shoulders and intimidating height the usual bouncers of the club had, and his eyes emitted a more aristocratic than authoritative aura. Overall, he looked more like someone who would frequently visit the club rather than the guy that would guard its entrance.

"Come on..." she tried to not sound too desperate "...you won't let a girl like me out in the cold now, will you?"

"Actually no." His answer surprised her. "It's exactly girls like you that I am here to allow in tonight."

Casting a suspicious glance at him, Lois decided to not look a gift horse in its mouth and just accept her only chance to get in. Gracing him with her dazzling smile, she followed his proffered hand as it was introducing her to the nightlife of Atlantis.

The place was indeed vast. Expanded to various open levels, with a rather futuristic decoration where the metallic colors and the perspex dominated, Atlantis stood larger than its own name. The deafening music seemed to have a narcotic effect on the waves of bodies provocatively swaying under the blinding spot lights. Steel, globular cages, whose hanging chains were lost somewhere in the whirlwind of smoke and neon lights, floated high above, serving as the perfect overhead stages for the various drag queens and their outrageous feathers. Women in tight vinyl clothes, with barely any spot of their face left un-pierced, were tantalizingly dancing with trendy yuppies dressed in whatever the latest fashion ordered, girls disguised as sexy devils were heavily making out with angel-winged males in some sort of absurd masquerade and everyone and everything inside that place flirted with the surreal.

Lois blinked a few times. By the time she managed to reach one of the two large, glass bar counters, after cursing and pushing her way through the wild crowd, she already wanted to return to her flat's tranquility. Squeezing herself between a busted imitation of Marilyn Monroe and a man with a shaved head and red lipstick on his lips, Lois spotted the bartender who at least looked like a normal guy.

"Hey there, think you can get me a vodka & tonic?" she literally shouted out the words in an attempt to beat down the roaring loudspeakers.

"Sure, babe. First time in Atlantis?"

"That obvious, huh?"

The man laughed.

"Yeah, I can tell by your look. Here you go."

She grabbed the glass and took a few much needed sips, cooling down her throat. Maybe alcohol would add some sense to the whole night. She instantly felt better, and, as her journalistic acumen kicked in, she decided that there was no better source than a bartender to begin her investigation with.

"Thanks. So, yeah first time in this club, very...different. I had heard a lot about it though from a friend of mine, she was the one that actually recommended it to me. Haven't seen her in a while, but she likes partying here a lot...maybe you know her, Justine Nickols?"

The bartender shrugged nonchalantly as he was preparing a few drinks.

"Doesn't ring a bell, sugar. Loads of people pass by each night."

"Yeah, the place has quite the reputation. But she's a frequenter, I'm sure she's met the bartenders too."

"Not on my swift. Atlantis is a big club, there are many pals covering the place throughout the week. Maybe your friend met one of the rest, who knows?" he winked at her and turned his attention to an Asian beauty that had just approached the bar.

Lois snorted disappointed. Finding someone in there that would both have known Justine and be willing to share any information about her, was being proved a rather hard task. It was like searching for needles in the hay. Her gaze wavered around the enraptured men and women for a while. Nothing seemed to disturb the ecstasy the whole club emanated. Or...almost nothing. Her focus landed on a few very pretty - and very drunk as Lois mentally noted - girls that , at least from what it looked to her, were being half lured half pushed through an opening at the back of the club. The whole incident lasted less than a few minutes and , to Lois' surprise, once the girls disappeared from her sight, so did the mysterious entrance, since the "door" was practically a continuation to the decoration of the rest wall, offering the perfect camouflage to whatever was wished to stay hidden.

Nothing could hide from a Lane though. Placing her drink on the glassy counter, she moved towards that direction when, suddenly, she felt a hand on her shoulder.

"Hey, leaving my company so early?"

Contrary to his smooth voice, the bartender's grip remained inexplicably tight for a second but his whole demeanor softened overall once their eyes locked.

"It wouldn't even cross my mind." Lois smirked seductively at him. "You were just about to lose me to the female restroom for five minutes."

"Which is to the exact opposite direction" he retorted with a smile of his own.

_'Damn'_

"Oh...I guess I am being a total noob here, aren't I?" she encouraged herself to play the dumb chick "Well, thanks... Won't take me long."

She left him with a tempting sway of her hips and sheered off towards where he had indicated, until she could feel no more his prying eyes nailed on her back. Mixing herself with the delirious crowd, Lois realized that a long night was unfolding before her.

___________________

Tearing his mouth away from the velvet flesh, Jason roared his pleasure in the air.

"Damn, this feels so much better than the cloned shit we get to feed on!"

The girl collapsed on the floor, blood oozing from the fresh cut on her neck. A white beast approached the exhausted woman and started fluttering its tongue over the tempting wound.

"Nefertiti, here!"

Letting a low growl to express her dissatisfaction, the tiger obeyed to her master's severe tone.

"Good girl.." Alexander stroked her silken fur before motioning at a black man in suit, standing a few meters away. " Wake her up, make sure she can count up to five and put her in a taxi."

The man lifted up the weak girl , who nuzzled on his chest, and carried her away from the VIP's room.

"Bye, love. It was a pleasure." Jason snickered, before burying his face between the creamy breasts of a vampire, whose loud cackles could raise up the dead.

Alexander examined him thoughtfully, without though halting his enjoyable game. Taking handfuls of blueberries from a porcelain pot, he was seeking pleasure in throwing them to a naked girl and a man in a gimp suit that were pathetically crawling before him.

"You know, Jason...if you became an Elder tonight, you actually owe it to that cloned shit. Who knows what the clan's future would have been if everyone continued blatantly mangling the mortals."

"Oh I know, Lex..." he panted out, momentarily breaking free from his sexual diversions "Just saying that, nights like this, make me wish we held Baptisms more frequently."

For a flashing second, Alexander's eyes hardened. Lifting his fine glass, he tasted the heady mix of French champagne with blood while a long moan echoed in his ears. On his right, a dazed blond was representing the bliss itself, as an orgasmic shiver ran through her body the moment Kal attacked the blue veins of her wrist. Remaining borderline apathetic to her ministrations on his throbbing erection, his eyes had sparkled crimson the moment the ignorant bimbo had put her fingers between his beautiful lips, trying to match his own thrusts into her mouth. Nights like this, it was hard for a vampire to resist.

The girl however seemed totally oblivious to what was going on. Lost in her own world, and with her head feeling lighter than ever, she kept flirting shamelessly with her own predator. Reaching at the back of her slutty skirt, she pulled out a tiny bag, all the while stupidly grinning. The white dope twinkled before Kal's face.

"Another junkie." Alexander shook his head. Darting his hand unexpectedly, he caught the little bag and swung it before its owner's hooded eyes.

"Hey Mr...gimme that back..."

"Ssshhh....it's ok now..." from afar, Kal's soothing voice reached her eyes, as his arms encircled her waist and his lips planted a feathery kiss on her weak pulse.

"What's wrong with you, people?" Alexander asked almost rhetorically. "You keep soaking your bodies in crap like this, allowing your misery to get the best of you. How petty...". His perfectly manicured little finger slid into the baggy, bringing some specks of cocaine to the tip of his tongue.

"Disgusting..." With a contemptuous grimace, he tore the little bag apart and sprinkled its deadly content on the floor, in front of the woman's saucer eyes. In a heartbreaking demonstration of the lowest human instincts, the poor girl escaped from Kal's arms and desperately dashed on the floor in all four, in vain struggling to gather the white death.

"Look at them, Kal...I pity them. They shall never change. How ironic, while we are feeding on life, they choose to feed on death."

Carefully stepping over the crawling woman, Lana, escorted by her usual mischievous mood, approached the luxurious, animal print sofa they were sprawled on. The bronze of her skin glistened under the intoxicant scent of the spread oils, naked as she was, with two rows of emeralds around her ankles and plastic, fairy wings adorning her back.

"What are you boys doing? Having fun?"

"Lana...you fed up with your girl slaves and came looking for some male action?"

"It depends, Kal...have you left me any?"

She cocked an eye brow at him and he chuckled in return. Noticing her alluring presence, Jason disregarded the comfort of his companion's arms and welcomed her exotic beauty in his embrace. As usual, she didn't disappoint. Straddling his waist with ease, her warm folds hugged his eager manhood , beginning a slow ride of thrusts and moans.

Pensively gazing at their sexual endeavors, Kal felt a strange sting of newfound wrongness worrying his insides.

"Don't you ever feel...I don't know, jealousy...a slight annoyance or a hint of emotion... when you see him with your wife?"

Alexander lazily followed Kal's gaze as he chewed on his juicy fruits.

"I didn't know the rest of us were monogamy defenders for Lana to be the exception."

"It's not about sex really... Jason is not her regular pet."

"Well..." he turned his face to him, letting his head fall on the large cushions "..I don't mind it when she is with you, do I?"

Kal wet his lips.

"That's different.."

"Why?"

"Cause it's not _her_ I am loyal to..."

Their stares were engaged for one whole minute, emotions and thoughts channeling themselves through the suffocantingly small gap between their slow breaths. It was Alexander's smirk that cracked the spell.

"Is that some weird trace of sensitivity I detect or..?"

"I don't know..." Kal frowned at his own thoughts.."The funny thing is that I always considered you as the one with any sensitivities left...You could be with Lana anytime you wanted, but you still chose to marry her after all."

"My feelings for Lana weren't verified with our marriage, if that is what you're implying."

"No, look..." he momentarily closed his eyes, easing the pressure on the crook of his nose with his fingers " let's forget it, I am not even sure what I am implying. I think the tension of the past week has finally screwed my brain."

Alexander laughed.

"Take a step back and relax , Kal. Come on, do yourself a favor ...just pick another girl or boy and enjoy the night. So many luscious necks in here."

Kal spared an unwilling glance to the parade of men and women staggering around the VIP's room, lost somewhere between lust and reverie. For a wicked moment, the smell choked him.

"You know what...I'm going to the dance stage." He stood up and buttoned up his black shirt, purposely leaving the upper buttons undone. "I feel like doing my own fishing."

Alexander limited himself in an encouraging gesture, before spooning a few more blueberries from the nearby pot. Throwing them on the floor, he burst into laughter as his wretched slaves manically crawled and scratched each other to get them.

A few meters away, the loud music was offering the perfect contrast to their lair's privacy, as Kal El casually strolled up to the bar. A natural magnet, he didn't leave many pairs of eyes apathetic.

"Mr Kent, you are such a dangerous man for spoiling us with your good looks. "

An aged woman with excessive make up and the gold of the whole world translated into jewelery loading her neck and wrists, boldly proffered her hand to him. Taking it without hesitation, and with a small glint dancing at the corner of his eyes, he briefly placed his soft lips on the back of her gnarled palm.

"Always good to see you, Mrs Bruckheimer."

Stepping closer to him , she shamelessly toyed with one of his shirt-buttons.

"My husband would be very interested in doing business with you in our new industrial expansion over Metropolis. I could always arrange a dinner."

A reserved smile colored his impenetrable face. "I shall keep that in mind."

The woman looked pleased with his answer, before snobbishly walking away from him. That was the thing about his irresistible charm; he would spit and they would still leave him pleased.

"How's the night moving, D'andre?"

He leaned on the bar counter, casually addressing the barkeeper without taking his eyes from the frenzied crowd.

"Smooth, Kal, pretty smooth. Everything's going like clockwork. There was only that one chick that may have, may have not looked for trouble."

"Yeah what about her?" he asked rather nonchalantly, his orbs lazily traveling around.

"Well, she came here claiming she was a friend of that dead nurse..."

D'andre's words thundered into Kal's awareness, realization kicking him right in the guts. He instantly turned his face to the bartender, his alarmed eyes scanning his face for any traces of lie.

"What did you just say?"

"Exactly what you heard, she came asking if I knew her ...that's before attempting to get her butt closer to the VIP's room. Although that might as well have been a coincidence."

Kal straightened his back, readjusting his calm composure.

"Is this girl still around?"

"Yeah, I kept an eye on the chick. Thought you might want to have a look at her." D'andre winked mischievously and pointed towards the overcrowded dance floor. Somewhere among the rocking bodies, the outrageous outfits and the dazzling lights, a red shirt flashed and instantly blazed up Kal's insides. She was there.

He gulped.

"Ok , D'andre , let me handle her , I'll take from here. Oh and...no reason to make a deal out of it, such minor issue can stay between us."

In response, the man lifted up his left sleeve, revealing a thorny scar on the inside of his forearm. The mysterious mark got lightly flared up as soon as Kal's gaze engulfed it.

"To the grave. You know it."

Kal nodded satisfied before completely centering his focus on the moving mass before him.

Somewhere inside that mass, Lois was starting feeling dizzy. Failing to animate her journalistic curiosity with the bartender, she had wandered around the various stages of the club, trying to find some evidence for her case and at the same time struggling to not lose her balance due to the incontrollable human river around her. At some point, the light bulb above her head had been switched on, making her wonder why she hadn't already approached the classy doorman. He had been nicer to her, maybe his mouth would be nicer too and spill some information. The night had reserved for her more surprises though, as her advance to the exit had been abruptly halted by masculine idiocy, when two morons had dared to think a Lane could ever be cornered. She had once again cursed like a sailor and had been ready to mash some nuts, when they had wisely chosen to back away, obviously avoiding trouble in the middle of Atlantis.

All these though had ultimately led her to the ground zero she was currently at. Colors and laughters were creating a vortex with her as its core, while the howls of music were yelling inside her ears. The frantic atmosphere was shutting all the pores of her body and her head felt so loaded, as if she had been greedily consuming alcohol the whole night. And on top of all these, hallucinations must have started driving her mad because for a very rare second, behind all those souls and all this panic, an awfully familiar and painfully handsome face had flickered through the holes.

_'Pull yourself together Lois, it can't be him'_

She twisted and turned, her eyes frantically searching to exorcise her fears... To assure herself it was just her fantasy she left unlocked, which, with its turn, decided that a trip through her reality wouldn't be such a bad idea.

And then... she saw him. Standing there, in flesh and bones, perfectly still within the frenetic motion. More real than ever. Gone were his glasses. Gone the wild locks bordering his eye brows and the cute, student style she had learned to cherish. Gone was her Clark. But the man invading his body, the stranger living his life, was savoring her with the same turbulent passion, cursing her with the same feverish agony from which there was no visible escape. She could sense his magnetism isolating her from the crowd. Stripping her down to her soul to make her claiming even more absolute.

Uninvited bodies intervened between her and his impressive frame, the flowing of the dance swept her in new twirls, and he once again disappeared from her view. Just as magically as he had appeared. However, Lois was gratefully awake now and the voices inside her mind were screaming to her to leave, to run away from that fortress of debauchery the soonest possible, to just...

A strong arm encircled her waist, pulling her back flat against a solid chest. Almost simultaneously, a firm hand dived to the flesh of her exposed thighs, startling her body and, thus, effectively sneaking its way between her defenseless limbs. Instinctively. Lois' hands darted to block the intruder, but, to her shock , they only managed to press his grip firmly onto her crotch, sending a sudden rush throughout her system. This could not be happening.

"Have you ever done it inside a club...right here...on the dance floor?"

Lois' soul hitched inside her dry throat. The velvet of his husky voice titillated the side of her neck, domesticating her senses so easily that it frightened her. His vulgar invitation tip-toed delicately on her skin, awakening every part of her body and introducing her into the wildest temptation. His burning breath triggered every fiber of her body into motion, aiding his bold hand as it started its slow exploration above her silky panties.

"Everyone's moving around you...sweating...you get horny but...only cause you are not alone..."

His words were coming out in pants, colored by the epitome of the roughest masculinity. The bastard, he was doing it on purpose. He knew well how to toy with her hormones. And when his throbbing, denim covered erection , pressed eagerly on the small of her back, Lois' felt all her blood heading furiously towards her head.

"You move in sync to the music.. like them... only they don't know what you are really doing....they don't care...for them you are dancing...fervently...sweatily...in and out..."

She was losing it. Her hooded eyes were blindly glancing around the rocking bodies, her mind unwillingly picturing the forbidden scene he was unfolding. He thrust gently once more onto her firm, leather clad, buttocks and Lois almost surrendered right then and there, allowing her head to fall on the warmth of his shoulder.

"You live with the fear they'll discover you....you and your dirty, little self...but that excites you even more...and when you are there...coming...again...and again...they don't even hear you, cause the cry of your orgasm is lost in the raging music..."

She had to get a grip on herself, otherwise his so vivid imagery would become her painful truth. She had to. Mastering whatever common selse was left in the neurons of her mind, she forced him to loosen the pressure on her crotch , the exact moment his intrusive fingers were attempting to slide below her underwear.

"Only in _your freaky dreams_..."

Kal snickered.

"Oh in my dreams I do a lot more things to you, Lois. And you are right...they are freaky."

His tongue lapped on the shell of her ear, however his whole, muscular body seemed to relax behind her , even though his arms never abandoned the comfort of her waist. In response, Lois started fidgeting.

"I had no doubt you were a pervert, now ...let me go!"

"I have a better idea...let's go somewhere with a little more space."  
Without warning, he shoved her through the crowd , manipulating her as if she weighed nothing, until her back contacted the cold, inhospitable surface of a wall. It was a shadowed corner next to the toilets' entrance, however the area here was more commodious and open to any prying pair of eyes entering or exiting the restrooms. Her body bumped on the wall with a small thump and Kal rushed to use his weight to trap her anew. What started as a grim stare on her part, opposite to his audacity, quickly grew into a melting ice-berg as soon as their gazes locked. Lois had to actually vehemently shake her head, in an attempt to banish the enticement served so bounteously to her.

"For someone that was all about secretly dry humping in the middle of a dance stage, you hurried a little too much to put an end on your little performance , buddy."

Sarcasm. This was the key to her liberty.

"I think you misunderstood me, Lois. I never said I like to secretly sex up. I, for once, prefer it when the crowd _watches_ and..." he nuzzled her nose with his own , before pulling slightly back "..._applauds_."

Lois' smile almost faltered as soon as she realized he wasn't kidding. A brief glance around convinced her that, at that specific spot, the dangerous game they were engaging themselves in could stand as a stimulating spectacle for anyone.

"Well, Mr 'I study Latin' " she scoffed at his facade displaying her irritation "..I bet no one has rubbed this smugness off your face yet. Thankfully, for everything, there's a first time"

"I'm not so sure. Something tells me you're enjoying this more than you want to admit."

"Newsflash for you then; you're seriously fooling yourself"

"Really?..."

Out of the blue, his right hand vanished below the hem of her short skirt. The weak, tearing sound was drowned within the chaotic ambiance of the club, as he deprived her of her precious, silky undergarment with one simple flip of his thumb. Lois yelped. With a sinister smirk tangled at the edge of his promising lips, he lifted her panties to his face. Inhaling the intoxicant moisture, he let his tongue glide along the soft material, roughening it with his greedy touch.

"...then why your wet panties seem to disagree?"

"You son of a bitch" she spat out through clenched teeth.

He laughed at her annoyance, amused he had just proved his point and her own attraction to his ministrations. Crumbling the underwear inside his fist, he hastily shoved the loot into the back pocket of his jeans , storing it as souvenir.

"I'm gonna keep this for later examination..."

At that point, Lois realized that the situation was growing more serious than she had originally imagined. All of a sudden she was standing there, with her most intimate parts exposed to his inmost desires and her own spirit ensnared by her personal urges and his raw manliness. She could feel his hard muscles contracting under his heaving chest, flat as it was against her own perked nipples. However, underneath it all, a more appercetive part of herself that every time was mysteriously being awakened only by his presence, was signaling her that there were more solid reasons behind his explosive longing to dominate her.

"OK let's cut out the crap. What the heck do you want from me?"

Appreciating her forthright persona, Kal's emeralds pierced through her with unmatchable intensity. Leisurely, he trailed his finger on her inflamed cheekbone, his nail lightly grazing her smooth flesh.

"It's pretty simple, Lois. I want you to drop the case you're working on. Forget the dead bodies, go back to your daily routine and no one will get hurt."

"Come again?"

Immediately, she regretted she asked. His face inched closer and he provocatively allowed his warm breath caress every electrified pore of her skin.

"You heard me....Drop the case. I know about your investigation on the deaths... along with that kid, the photographer. You both stop playing Sherlock and Watson and stay away from everything."

Lois held his serious yet erotic gaze for a second, before bursting to derisive chuckles.

"You must be really naive if you think you can blackmail me. Open your eyes, buddy; the only scenario I am dropping this case is within those freaky dreams of yours."

Kal mentally rolled his eyes. This was being proved harder than he had estimated it. And the fact her delicious, female curves had been only in a breath's distance all this time, was making it excruciatingly painful for him to carry on with his act instead of...just tasting her. Her scent had invaded his nostrils ever since he had located her among the dancers, triggering his hormones into gear and threatening to overpower his reason all over again. Handing the reigns of his soul to impulse, he demandingly shoved his knee between her creamy thighs and , with one abrupt move, parted them. Lois' eyes widened before the sudden assault. She never managed to express any objection though, as he shifted his crotch and nestled more comfortably against the heat of her pelvis.  
_  
'And , oh my God, was he still hard?'_

His tight grip on her, the one that was defining her as his captive, belonged already in the past. Lois had relaxed in his arms for quite a while now, but between their verbal fight and the scorching fire they were sharing, they had both failed miserably to notice. Secretly, his hands had begun a slow exploration and massage on her hips, as their chests moved together, mirroring the equal pounding of their hearts. Lois bit her lower lip, ignoring that the mere image of her worrying its succulent flesh was damaging any feeble control he had over his primitive need for her. The euphoria spread from her heart to every tip of her nerves had started dangerously resembling the medley of feelings she had experienced during her dream with him as her violator. And what was confusing her the most was that, somewhere among her fears for that unknown side of him and the verboten excitement he was gracing her with, Lois was witnessing her own sexual nightmare coming from the depths to haunt her.

"You're quite the stubborn, aren't you now?"

His voice was low and needy, as his words blew like a light breeze on the erotic barren her skin had morphed into. Kal El was on a lustful race of his own. The bells of danger and failure were chiming in, as tremendous voices in his head were scolding him, screaming he was jeopardizing his own plan. But it was when the carnal rapture finally overflowed him, that Kal arrogantly decided one thing; to screw the plan.

Hazel was merged into azure, creating a sparkling shade that nature had never laid eyes upon. His head leaned in, zeroing any remaining hint of gap between them, causing the nerves around the lower part of her body to twinkle in anticipation. His tongue sneaked out, its tip slowly wetting the outline of her sweet mouth...trying...testing and waiting...And then his lips followed, massive and warm...lightly touching her own, following the previous lead of his tongue.

"No...don't.."

Some forgotten crumbs of logic were desperately hinging upon her conscience, trying to tame her fierce awakening, but in vain....He ignored her weak plea. And like a sweeping monsoon he ruthlessly scattered and whirled the dust that formed her existence. His tongue found hers, even if their lips were still barely touching, and started gluttonously stroking each other , twirling together while keeping the rest of their mouths at bay.

Not wasting any time, his hand slid below her right thigh and wounded her leg around his waist, pulling their groins together. Eagerness forced her naked folds to grind hard against the rough material of his denim, all the while feeling through it his pulsating erection buzzing its own, sensual tune. He slightly bent his knees, providing himself with a better angle towards the center of her discomfort, and pushed again and again and again....until Lois smashed down all moral burdens and began moaning inside his assaulting mouth.

He would make her come. He would make her come and her chained awareness had no power to prevent him from doing it. Her lungs desperately sought for much needed oxygen, the moment he tore his mouth away from hers in order to flood her neck and chest with a torrent of wet, open mouthed kisses. Violently pulling her shirt down, he triumphantly unveiled her bra-covered, right breast, baring her under the wild, music beats of Atlantis. His fingers pinched and twisted her nipple while he sucked at the top of her breast, and every jolt of sharp pain sent through her system, he was rewarding it with yet another slam of his hips into her moistened core.

Within this haze of emotions and animalistic pleasure, Lois' mind barely registered how much exposed her body was to strangers, powerless as she stood, with her skirt rolled up over her thighs and her breast jiggling free of its clothing restrains. All it mattered was the ultimate satisfaction. The one that only his hardness was gifting her with, with his shaft exciting her clit , every time he bucked up his hips.

Her orgasm drummed its way from her throbbing core to the rest of her aroused body, disguised as a sudden, enormous wave that smashed into myriads of glowing crystals. And just as suddenly and promisingly it had started , as abruptly it ended, with the flat truth of Lois coming on Kal's clothed groin.

"Guess I have to change jeans now"

His low, cocky chuckle shattered whatever magic had been sprinkled upon their profound moments. As his male pride winked at her in the aftermath of her climax, embarrassment sank in. The devil had offered her the apple and she had just devoured it without hesitation. Healing her wounded modesty, she dragged down the hem of her skirt and readjusted her almost ripped off shirt.

At that moment, she hated him.

"So, about the case..."

The sharp, metallic sound of a zipper was enough to startle even his deadly veins.

Under the shady light of Atlantis, Lois could still notice his pupils dilating and questioning her back with what could be described as borderline panic. His hands had never abandoned her hips and now she could feel his claws instinctively ploughing into her skin. Paying him with the same coin , had never been so liberating. Her hand slipped inside his jeans, her capable fingers cupping his burning rod , interlacing around it like a net. The lack of boxers didn't surprise her. He had built this prestige of his, why ruin it with some cloth. She silently marveled though at the size of him and rushed to brush away the imagery that thought was already evoking in her.

"What...what are you doing?" he choked out.

"What does it look like I am doing..._big boy_?"

The waves of sarcasm radiating by the simple lifting of her eye brow, were more than enough for him to understand. Searching inside her depths, he chanced only upon bitterness, the receiver of it being someone he knew awfully well. And as his arouse threatened to already explode with her first squeeze on him, Kal El realized that life was certainly a bitch, which sometimes went by the name Lois Lane.

She began pumping him firmly, establishing a steady and gradually intensified pace. Decisively, she was reaching each time for the base of his cock and then squeezing her way up, occasionally twirling her thumb over the head as bonus. She wasn't allowing him time to think, she wasn't permitting him time to react. He would be dominated the way he had dared to dominate her , and no luxury would be granted as option.

Trembling under the weight of his growing orgasm, Kal hissed and unwillingly buried his face in the crook of her neck.

"Stop..."

His pleading was answered by her speeding up. Milking him harder, almost harrowing. However much he resisted, Kal couldn't help but revel in the sensations her angered touch favored him with. His emotions had jumped into a ferocious ride and his predator instincts that hadn't satisfied their hunger for the night, were coming crashing in.

"Stop, damnit..."

"If you want me to stop..." she panted out in his ear, mocking the weakness he was reflecting..." ..why your big fella seems to disagree?"

"You don't...don't understand.."

His forehead lolled on her shoulder, his sweat mingling with the heated droplets of her own , previous sin. And all the time he was pushing back in her hand, the sweet image of her large neck vein at the mercy of his thirst was clenching his temples like vice, urging the beast to sharpen his teeth.

"I think you like it....you like what I am doing to you, like it rough like this..."

His fist crashed on the wall, his force creating a large dent inches away from Lois' head. She didn't even flinch.

"You get even hornier like this, huh..." pumping harder now "...tell me, is this what you asked those girls.." more growls, more thrusts "...to do before you..." another squeeze "...you killed them?"

A lightning thundered in his foggy mind, mercilessly ripping his excitement apart. He fiercely detached himself from her fatal embrace, as if he was stung by a scorpion. They both stood two steps apart, panting erratically as their eyes casted venomous ribbons of flames at each other.

"You don't have the slightest idea of what you're talking about..." he snarled. Suddenly he looked different. The smugness had been erased from his beautiful features. He was now cold. Threatening. "You _have_ to drop the case!"

"And who is gonna stop me, _you_?! I am gonna dig to the bottom of that filthy pit and reveal whatever truth you are concealing. You have my freaking word on that!" she marched away from him , only to halt and turn around for a second, as disdain painted her facial expression. "And zip yourself."

Lois hastily stormed out of Atlantis, not even sparing a last glance behind. Her whole body was shuddering under the power of what she had just experienced and felt. So stressed she was, that she had failed to detect the plea cradled inside his threats, the hurt masked behind his anger...So stressed, she never even noticed that her two earlier offenders, both Lucas' henchmen, had stealthily followed her into the night.

Her step was treading on a wobbly line and , as the cherry on the cake of catastrophe, the moment she reached her car, parked in the misty back alley of Atlantis, she realized she had left her jacket somewhere inside the bar. Cursing her bad luck, she turned around again but...this time she didn't go very far. Bathed in the shadows, a man was leaning on the brick wall at the end of the road. And even though she couldn't see his face clearly, she was sure his interest didn't lie on dark alleys. Lois lowered her gaze and shook her head. This dreadful night seemed to have found the elixir of eternity , cause certainly it had no end.

"Look, if you want money, you just picked the wrong unemployed reporter here. There's a bank across the street, do yourself a favor."

The man laughed and took a few steps closer, entering the wan circle of feeble light that struggled to lit up the alley.

"Shit..."

His grin grew wider as soon as she recognized him and he showily opened his cashmere jacket , vaunting his elegant clothes.

"Honey...do I really look like someone who needs money?"

She was about to open her mouth and answer back, always ready to voice herself even in the most unsuitable moments, when another guy lunged at her from behind, effectively keeping her still. She tried to fight back, but he seemed impossibly strong and all she managed to do was to allow him an even better grip on herself. He forced her head to tilt on the right, pulling aside the cascade of her hair and exposing her luscious neck.

And then, everything happened too quickly. A blood-curdling creep reverberated through the alley and what for an instant looked like the floating, raven cloak of an abysmal shadow, fell on the cocky guy with the expensive clothes, drifting him down with it.

Lois screamed, trapped as she still was in her captor's stranglehold but she couldn't understand what was happening. A medley of cries, voices and beats seemed to have aggravated the shadows, as it was clear now that there were people fighting in the dark corners of the alley.

Suddenly, the guy appeared seemingly from nowhere, staggering towards them. He looked completely disorientated and huge, bloody furrows distorted his face, as if someone had flayed him alive. Instantly, his accomplice pushed brutally Lois onto the brick wall , ready to attack the bloodthirsty stranger. However, he , himself took a few steps backwards as abashment covered his features.

"What are you doing man? We didn't know..."

His phrase was cut short as a punch came flying straight into his face, sending him down on his bleeding companion. Lois watched thunderstruck the whole scene and she craved to dart closer to the fight, see the mysterious stranger that had unleashed chaos on her captors , when something really wicked caught her attention...the bleeding guy stirred and as he opened his eyes, what was reflected in them was anything but human.

It was then that she felt like being swept into someone's embrace and next thing she knew, the ground had sailed away from her and she was being dragged higher and higher and higher....The wind was hollowing around her, as it was clear they were leaping from the one balcony to the other, covering impossible distances as if they were simple steps.

The moment her feet touched solid ground again, it was on the top roof of a multi-leveled shopping center, not many blocks away from her parked car. She steadied herself and looked around, something about the manly scent lingering in the air was betraying to her who her savior was.

"Clark wait!..."

Kal paused at the edge of the roof. His back was turned to her. His shoulders seemed lightly bowed and...was he really trembling?

"I am not sure what happened down there but...you saved me."

A bittersweet thought crept into Lois' mind; maybe his name wasn't even Clark. Hesitantly, she dared one step towards him.

"Please...don't come any closer."

His cracked voice came out as a sob, making Lois freeze in her place.

"Ok...but, I don't understand. Those guys knew you?"

No answer.

"Please, look at me..."

The slow, negative shake of his head, didn't discourage her.

"It's ok, really...just look at me."

Quietly, Kal turned slightly around, and as the dark clouds dissolved allowing the glorious moon to stroll in the night sky, rays of silver lit up half his face.

And what was revealed, was unspeakable. The lurid gaze , blazed up in a mix of dark crimson and dazzling white...bewildered and inhuman...and the fangs...long and sharp...gleaming ominously as the body itself panted and quivered...

Lois felt her nerves abandoning her body, her skin paling out and her tired feet growing roots to the very prophetic spot she was standing. And the sad thing was that.... he didn't miss this change in her.

"What...what are you?"

A spark of agony flashed in his eyes, before he averted his face from her, for the first time repulsed of his own self.

"A freak"

Without a warning, Kal opened his wide arms and jumped off the edge. In vain Lois cried out behind him. Running towards the edge, she anxiously leaned over , her eyes frantically searching the void, only to be greeted by the suffused with light highway down...down below.


End file.
